A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong
by JadeWing
Summary: After reading too many typical camp fics, I decided to write my own, but with more than one twist. Example line: "I mean, your cabinmate's got a thing for me, my cabinmate has a thing for you, and it's really starting to get on my nerves!"PG-13 for langua
1. Welcome to Camp Nadeshiko

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter One: Welcome to Camp Nadeshiko

Hi everybody! JadeWing here, with a new, funny, and romantic fic about what happens when Li and Sakura go to the same camp and interesting things happen. No, this isn't the sequel to Shin no Chikara. I have an excerpt from one of the future chapters in my profile, actually, and feel free to go read it. I don't have much to say except that I'm using the American names (don't kill me!) and the characters Shinju, Shinrai, Raiu, Arai, Kumo, Sora, Yorokobi, and anybody NOT in CCS still don't belong to me; feel free to use them, make a sequel to this if you want, etc. It's the same old POV system: I'll put whose POV it's from in the corner; it's mainly Li and Sakura although there's some 3rd Person to tell what her cabinmates are doing. Blah, blah, blah, just read the story! Sorry, not much S+S in here, but more in the next chapter, I guarantee! And then, after that....well, you'll see! Disclaimer: What part of "I don't own this" doesn't anybody get? I DON'T OWN ANYTHING!!!! If you want to sue me, all you'll be getting is a bunch of spiral notebooks that have the rough drafts in them! And I don't think anybody's all that interested in the writings of a fourteen-year-old! Especially one with the bad handwriting I have! So XP!

Oh yeah, one more thing. It's time to play pretend! Let's pretend that Sakura was _twelve_ when she opened the Book of Clow, shall we? And let's pretend everybody's around the ripe old age of 14 in this story. Now, let's pretend I'm rich and famous and actually borderline attractiveHaha screw the last one. They're fourteen in this fic, k? Bada bing, bada boom.

~~~~~POV Switch or Start/Finish chapter

[Author's Notes]

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****

Sakura

__

I was walking off of something and plunging into a world of blue-green. My mind knew this wasn't good at all, and it was screaming in terror. It was the only part of me that was reacting–the rest was in a sort of paralysis as I drifted down. I tried to breathe, but liquid filled my lungs and I choked. Far away, there was a rushing noise, but my vision faded and I realized I was drowning. **Dear God, I don't want to die! Somebody help me! I'M DROWNING! OMIGOD I'M GOING TO DIE! I'll never be able to tell everybody how much they meant to me....I'm going to die! Somebody help me!**

"Wake _up_, Sakura!" a voice bellowed in my ear. "You're having a nightmare, and anyone with a drop of magic can tell!"

"What?" I blinked drowsily. "Is it morning? And whaddya mean they can tell?"

"Didn't I tell you?" Kero's face swam into view when I sat up. Light streamed in the window and across my bed as I shook my head and he grimaced. "No? Well, anyone who's got strong powers accidentally projects their emotions while they're asleep. Most learn to control it after a while, and you're usually pretty good at it, but you lost control this time and pretty much scared the_ crap _out of anyone who's got magic."

"You mean they know _I_ had a nightmare?!" I asked frantically. "Me, Sakura?"

"No, no–just that someone with strong powers had a nightmare, unless they're familiar with your aura. And I'll say it again: you usually have better control over your dreams than this, so don't worry. Nobody will stop you in the middle of the sidewalk and ask if you had a nightmare."

"Hey, squirt." Tori opened the door suddenly as Kero froze. "You had a nightmare, didn't you?"

"Umm...." I said. dumb-struck. "Yeah...why?"

"You woke me up. You _know_ I pick up on that kind of thing, so learn a little control, why don't ya?" He scowled and shut the door.

I waited until his footsteps had receded, then shot a glare at Kero. "You were saying?"

He blinked innocently. "I _said_ the people familiar with your aura might know."

"Spiffy." I leaned back and stretched. "Good thing there's no school this month. I don't think I could face Li after this."

"The Brat? I tell you, he's not as strong as he says! _You_ were the one who opened the book, not him, and–"

"I _know,_ Kero," I sighed. "You've said it all already. Too many times."

__

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Ya know, you might just want to check out a summer camp this month," Kero said as he zipped over to the Nintendo. _"You_ need a vacation."

__

"You're telling _me"_

"I say you go find a pamphlet for one you like and shove it in your dad's face until he says you can go," Kero said positively.

"Yeah, that's really gonna work," I said sarcastically. "Maybe I'll hire a couple of mobsters to do some 'persuasion' for me, too." I rolled over and swung my legs over the side of the bed. "What time is it?"

"Oh, early enough." Kero floated the clock into my lap, shining gold. "About 7:30."

__

"No!!!! I wanted to sleep in this morning!" I looked at the hands and found he was all too accurate.

"That's not normal," I muttered sullenly. "My rights are being violated. I'm going to sue something."

"Go on, get up," Kero said gleefully. "You've got a camp to find, remember?"

"Shut up, Kero."

"Hey, Sakura!" Madison ran over to me as I approached the billboard. It was wallpapered with ads for camps, and a stand below it was stuffed full of pamphlets and fliers.

"Hi, Madison!" I smiled and waved as she came over. "Whatcha doing?"

"Checking out the camps. How about you?"

"The same." I walked to the board and studied my options. "Any good ones?"

"Yeah!" She thrust a pamphlet into my hands. "Mom decided to sponsor this one–gee, wonder why..."

The last comment was sarcasm; the camp was called Camp Nadeshiko. "What's it like?"

"Well, actually she used to camp there with your mom when she was younger." Madison smiled and added, "The lake is really pretty, and she says it's perfect for swimming. Supposedly, your mom even lost a necklace in it when she was our age. It's a sleep-away camp now, and Mom's really funded it well. I heard there's even TV's and VCRs in the cabins."

"Wow, sounds ritzy. Is it really expensive?" The paper prickled in my fingers and my arms tingled, but I ignored it.

"No, that's the best part! Because Mom sponsored it, they can afford really low fees. It's only $100 for two weeks, and you get to go swimming, canoeing [AN: Is that even a word?], hiking, and a lot more. There's even horses, and a dance at the end."

"Wow...are you going?"

"Absolutely! You have to come too!"

Something tugged at my heart, and I knew I _had_ to go to that camp. _It must be because Mom went there,_ I figured. _I've **got** to go._ "I'm going to go show this to Dad. I'll call you in a little bit."

"Okay. Good luck!" She winked as I dashed off.

I careened down the street and into the house, then almost collided with him. "Dad! Can I go to camp? It'sreallycheapbutreallycoolandIreallyreallyreallyreallywanttogoand–"

"Whoa! Slow down, Sakura, and tell me again," he laughed.

"There's a camp that Madison's going to, and I really want to go too, and her mom is sponsoring it so it's really inexpensive and I really want to go and here'stheflierandcanIgopleasepleasepleasepleasepleeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaasssssssssseeeee???"

Dad silently leafed through the brochure. After a moment, he said slowly, "Well, I don't see why not. Seems pretty nice, and we've got plenty of extra cash this month, so....the bus leaves Sunday?"

"Yeah...so I can go?! YES!" I cheered, jumping up and down in ecstasy. I could go! I could go!

I raced up the stairs to call Madison, oblivious to just how much going to Camp Nadeshiko would change my life.

Early Sunday morning, I was standing in a parking lot with Madison and about seventy-eight other kids, with our ages ranging from third grade to twelfth. She was the only familiar person I could see, but I didn't mind–the best part about camp was making new friends. She had told me that we were in the same cabin, so I wouldn't be entirely on my own.

"Campers!" A young woman of about twenty clapped for attention. "Quiet, everybody!" Just then, the bus pulled in. A chatter broke out, but the woman got everybody to shut up again. Once she could be heard, she called, "You can take your backpack onto the bus. A second will be coming soon, so half of you get on this one--everybody on my right."

Madison and I were on that side, so I nervously slung my backpack over my shoulder and got on. 

Even the buses were nice; the seats were covered in fabric instead of pleather, and there were armrests. Looking out the window, I thought I saw a familiar shock of dark brown hair but figured it could've been anybody. The bus pulled away.

Camp Nadeshiko was about an hour outside of Readington. Madison was sitting next to me, and we talked the whole time.

"Look, there's fencing!" Madison pointed to something on the leaflet.

"Really?" I looked at mine, and sure enough it said they'd employed a fencing teacher. "All right!"

"And we were right–there's horseback riding!" she said excitedly. "It says that we'll have different activities every other day, and we'll–" she peered closer at the brochure"–be in groups that are comprised of a girl's cabin and a boy's cabin."

"Aren't there four in each?"

"Yeah, this is a pretty small camp." Madison laughed. "Once word gets out, though, it won't be for long."

I was about to say I agreed when someone yelled, "Look! There it is!"

Pressing my face to the window, I saw a big, silver-blue lake cupped by pine-covered hills. "It's so beautiful," I sighed happily. A moment later, the bus jerked to a halt and we all piled out. The second bus pulled up right behind ours and had barely stopped moving before people started pouring out. I was watching them when I felt a tap on my elbow. Turning around, I asked, "Yeah?"

It was Madison. "Let's go to our cabin and change into the camp uniforms," she suggested. "They're all ready for us."

"Works for me!" I said cheerfully. I was walking backwards carelessly, my hands locked behind my head, when I collided with something in an unexpected thump.

"Oh, sorry! Are you okay?" I gasped as I whirled around.

"It's okay," the other person said as the turned to face me. "I–what are you doing here?"

It was Li. 

[AN: Sorry to all the people who read Shin no Chikara; I couldn't resist!]

"I-I-I could ask you the same thing," I stammered, stunned.

Li cast a wary look around us, then said lowly, "Meet me behind the dining hall in fifteen minutes." He shot me the trademark look, then vanished into the crowd.

__

"Ooooookaaaaaaayyyy...." I said slowly, still confused. I wouldn't think Li would set foot on a camp if the world was being flooded and it was the only dry land left. "Where the heck is the lunch hall? And where's our cabin?"

"Come on, I'll show you–the lunch hall's on the way." Madison seized my arm and marched me down the road, pointing out which paths went where, what buildings were for what, and the like. In a few minutes, we were at our cabin. It was small but cute, and about thirty feet from the lakeshore like the other cabins. A sign over the door said, "Cherry Blossom Cabin," and she explained that all the girls cabins were named after flowers, and the boy cabins animals. "And," she said with a wink, "Mom requested that we get this one especially." 

The inside of the cabin was cooled by a breeze that came in from the lake and made the curtains dance as it passed through the open windows. A piece of paper had our names on it, along with two other girls: Shinju Kinkokoro and Shinrai Kinkokoro. "Must be our cabinmates," I commented as I set me pack down on my bed.

"Yeah," Madison said distractedly. I looked over at her bunk and saw the last thing I wanted at camp: the video camera. 

"Madison, you can't film me at _camp!_" I whined. "This is supposed to be a _vacation!"_

"Oh, but I'm not going to be filming just you," she said in a reassuring tone that didn't reassure me at all. "I'm the camp recorder–I was asked to do this. They want me to get the best and worst moments of this year."

I was about to respond when our cabinmates arrived.

"Hello?" A tall girl with gray-green eyes and dark blonde hair pulled into two loose pigtails steeped into the cabin. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear, saying, "Oh, hi! I'm Shinrai Kinkokoro and this is my twin sister, Shinju." A second girl stepped out from behind her. They looked exactly alike, except that the top half of Shinju's hair was pulled up into a ponytail.

"Hi, I'm Sakura!" I said cheerfully.

"I'm Madison Taylor." Madison smiled. "Looks like we'll be together for the next two weeks."

"Yep! Anybody bring videos?" Shinju grinned and pointed to the TV and VCR in the corner. "Last year, the camp tape was hilarious, and we might be able to get a copy."

"Actually, I'm this year's camp recorder," Madison said as I grabbed a change of the camp uniform from the bureau and ducked into the small bathroom. It was just a comfy pair of khaki shorts and a hooded white t-shirt, with dark purple stripes on each hem and around the edge of the hood, but that suited me just fine. As soon as I'd changed, I went back and started settling in. My watch from Julian was strapped securely around my wrist, so when it was time I said, "I'm going to go look around," and dashed away to the dining hall. Unsurprisingly, Li was waiting impatiently for me in the back, but before he could insult me asked, "So why are you here?"

He blinked, startled, then said as though stating the obvious, _"The Clow Card..."_ Seeing my blank look, he asked incredulously, "You didn't sense it?!"

"Uh...no, not really..." I said softly. "I mean, I, uh–"

"You're hopeless, Sakura," He said scornfully. "There's a Clow Card somewhere in this camp and we've got two weeks to track it down before we have to go back. Is that too hard for you?"

"No," I said softly. _That hurts_

"Good." Li turned on his heel and started to walk away, but a figure shot out from behind a bush, shouting, "Hey, you! Come back!"

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****

3rd Person/Shinju

Shinju stared after Sakura's retreating back. Sakura was troubled and she could tell easily. _She's really strong,_ she thought involuntarily. _Really, **really** strong._

****

Shinju? Shinrai's 'voice' echoed in her head. **_I think Sakura's more than she seems._**

Yeah, she's definitely got magic, Shinju agreed. The twins could 'talk' mentally to eachother because of their descent, along with being able to read minds, tell if someone had magic, and a few other things. **_There's another one like her at this camp, too, and from what I got she's going to meet him. I'm going to follow her, just in case._**

You sure?

Yeah. "I'm going to look around too," she said out loud. "I'll be back soon."

"Okay." Madison smiled as she looked up from her camera. "Come back quick."

"I will." She ran off after Sakura, trailing her stealthily by a good fifteen feet. When she disappeared behind the dining hall, Shinju went around and hid in the bushes. Sure enough, she was talking to a boy with a strong power, though not quite as strong as Sakura's.

"....you here, Li?"

__

So he's from the Li family too, huh? I think I recognize him--Yelan's only son. Last I heard, he was getting to be an arrogant brat. Bet he doesn't know a family member's here too, however distantly related we are. She inched forward slightly.

__

"The Clow Card...you didn't _sense _it?!"

Sakura mumbled a response as Shinju's mind raced. _The Clow Cards...if he's talking to her about them, then she's gotta be the one the let them out. So she's **the** Sakura, is she? No wonder she feels so powerful._

"You're hopeless, Sakura." Li's astringent words cut through her thoughts. "There's a Clow Card somewhere in this camp and we've got two weeks to track it down before we have to go back. Is that too hard for you?"

The hurt was apparent in Sakura's face. "No."

"Good." Li started to walk away, but Shinju wasn't going to let him off that easily. "Hey, you! Come back!"

He turned to face her slowly. "Are you talking to _me?_"

"No, I'm talking to the tree," she snapped, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course I'm talking to you! Apologize to Sakura, right now!"

"Do you have any idea who I am?" he asked, trying to look down on her and failing miserably because she was as tall as him.

"Li Showron, descendant of Clow Reed, only son of Yelan, engaged to Mei Lin; you have four sisters, Clow and Elemental magics, and in my opinion an incredibly thick skull," she rattled off. "For your information, Clow Reed had a _lot_ of descendants, and you aren't the only one here. Actually, so am I and my twin, but that doesn't really matter. No one in this camp gives a rat's ass about who exactly you are or who you descend from, and they'd all agree with me that you need to apologize to Sakura _now."_

"Why should I?" he demanded after a moment, flustered.

"Because you were a total _jackass,_" she said slowly in a insultingly accurate imitation of his "stating the obvious" tone. "Or is that too hard for you?" [AN: Ouch!]

"Stay out of this! It's none of your business, so leave before you get hurt!"

"What is your problem?" Shinju asked flatly. "Do you seriously think you could hurt me?" [AN: Fight! Fight! Fight!]

"You're lucky I'm not now!"

"You wanna fight?"

"I'm not afraid of a girl!"

Shinju snapped. "You_ should _be," she snarled, hauling her white-knuckled fist back and punching him in the face as hard as she could. She wasn't sure why he hadn't blocked it–it might have been that he hadn't really believed she'd really do it--but all the same, he fell, too startled to make any noise.

Smugly, Shinju turned on her heel and seized Sakura's elbow, dragging her away. Her fist stung, but it had been worth it. _He REALLY needed an ego-check._

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****

Sakura

"Uh, Shinju, I can explain," I said as she hauled me away.

"No, don't," she said grimly. "I know about the whole thing. After all, that idiot _is_ my relative. And just so you know, Shinrai and I have a few really small powers, too–we can talk to each other in our heads and stuff like that."

"Oh...okay." It took me a moment to adjust to the fact that not only did someone know about me, but she had magic too. At least it would make catching the card easier than if she didn't know.

Dinner was a noisy affair. The dining hall was large, and the acoustics were painfully good, so the sounds bordered deafening. Nobody seemed to mind, although Li did keep shooting glares at Shinju until she lost it and shouted, **"STOP! LOOKING! AT! ME!"** to him.

When the meal ended, the same woman from the bus stood on top of the counselor table and bellowed, "Hey, everybody! Quiet!"

The hall fell relatively silent, and she continued. "I'm Midori, and I'll be your fencing teacher. I'm also camp director. As you know if you read the pamphlet, there's about eighty of you here, and you're going to be in ten groups of eight–a boy's cabin and a girl's cabin. I'm going to tell you which group you're in now, so listen up. The schedule is on the wall. Group A is Rosebud and Bear cabins, Group B is Daffodil and Cougar, Group C..."

I watched Li to see which cabin he was in, but got distracted when I heard "Group G is Cherry Blossom and Wolf cabins." Li's head had snapped up at 'Wolf.' I groaned. "Guess who's in our group."

"Oh, no... not _him?_" Shinju moaned. "I'm not all that interested in getting glared at for two weeks by little Mr. Sunshine over there."

"Well, if you two just make up, it can't be that bad, can it?" Shinrai asked. She was the one who kept Shinju in check most of the time, like my position as peacekeeper between Li and Kero.

"Yes they can," she retorted as I sighed. "And he's gonna have to apologize to me first. And Sakura, too."

"Shinju..." Shinrai rolled her eyes.

As soon as the table was cleared, we went back to the cabin. The view was incredible as the sun set over the hills. I was lying on my bed and staring out the window alongside it when a familiar figure emerged from one of the closer cabins: Li. I turned my gaze back to the lake and let my mind drift.

Ever so slowly, something started to take control of my mind. A voice seemed to whisper in my ear. 

"The lake...go to the lake..." 

I was almost completely taken over when Madison called, "Sakura?"

I jerked out of my trance-like state. After a moment of disorientation, I said, "Yeah?"

"Shinju and Shinrai want to see some of the videos of your captures. Is that okay?"

"I guess," I said ruefully. "But really, it isn't what I'd call high-quality entertainment."

"Sure it is." Shinju popped in a tape and settled in front of the TV. I reluctantly did the same.

The next morning, after we showered and had breakfast, the first thing on our schedule was fencing. Midori was waiting for us, suited up in the quilted fabric and a foil shining in her hand. Within a few minutes, we were all in the suits and fencing against the partner she'd assigned us. Mine was Shinrai and Madison's was a guy from the Wolf cabin, but Shinju's was Li. We were awkwardly swinging the foils around and clumsily attacking and blocking when rapid clangs and rings pulled our attention elsewhere. Looking for the source, I saw it was Li and Shinju, who were going at it like there was no tomorrow. Neither appeared to be winning, but then Shinju slowly forced Li back a step.

Suddenly, her foil twisted and flashed in a complicated move that ended with Li's flying out of his hand.

I was stunned.

"Not bad." Midori stood over them, giving each a scrutinizing gaze. "Li, your blocks need to be faster. Shinju, your passes need more force. Do it again." She casually moved on to Shinrai and I. "Can I see that?" she asked her, and she obediently handed Midori her foil. Midori gave me the same measuring look she'd given Li and Shinju, then darted forward. I instinctively blocked the dull blade again and again until she finally got one in. I stared at the point that hovered a mere inch away from my mesh-covered nose, then moved back carefully as she lowered it and said, "You've got the instinct, but you still need work. Ever taken a class before?" I shook my head, and she spent the next fifteen minutes showing me exactly how to hold the foil before she did the same for Shinrai and moved on. At the end of two hours, it was ten o' clock and my arm was literally dead.

"What's next?" I asked Madison as I peeled off the suit.

"Umm...Horseback, I think."

"Sounds good." I hung up my suit and joined Shinju and Shinrai, checking the schedule. Sure enough, horseback was next, then lunch, a half-hour break, swimming, and arts and crafts. We went down to the stables, but no one was there yet, so Madison, Shinju, Shinrai, and I went over to the paddock to look at the horses. There were about eighty, all as different as you could get. Even so, a few stood out. One was a glossy Arabian, so dark a brown it seemed almost black. He surveyed the field almost elegantly, looking aloof and yet almost wild. Another was cantering around the perimeter of the fence. She was a silvery white, but it was a natural silver as opposed to faded from age. Her mane was a slightly darker gray, and she had darker gray socks. Her tail flared out playfully as she slid to a halt a few yards away and approached us calmly. She stared serenely at us for a moment, then walked up to me and thrust her face into my hands. Startled, I laughed softly and scratched her cheek, digging out a few carrot sticks I'd saved from lunch. She lipped them up as I heard a laugh.

"Looks like Moonchaser's made a friend." A woman of about twenty-five leaned on the fence, grinning. Her dark hair was in a long braid that went down her back. She turned to the rest of us and introduced herself. "I'm Yorokobi, the horse girl. I was actually going to assign you mounts, but I think I'll let you guys show me the one you want first and see how much experience you've got."

"Can I have...what's her name again?" I asked, scratching the silver mare's ear.

"Moonchaser, and sure. How much do you know about horses?"

"I took a few lessons when I was younger," I replied honestly. "If she takes off, I think I can stay on, and I can groom and saddle a horse."

"Sounds good to me. Just be careful not to make any _really_ loud noises around her, like a door slamming or anything cuz that'll spook her. Her tack's in the shed, so go on and groom and saddle her up."

I ran off to the tack shed, got her halter and lead rope, went back and put them on her, then led her to her stall in the stable. Her grooming bucket hung on a hook in the wall beside it, so I gave her a quick brushing, then got her tack and saddled her. Putting the bridle over her halter, I led her outside. To my surprise, Li was taking out the black-brown one. Shinju had a fiery red-brown one with a tan mane that looked positively demonic, while Shinrai had a gentle palomino and Madison had a glossy bay. I was the first one ready, so I fed Moonchaser the rest of my carrots while we waited. Not five minutes had passed when Li led out his mount. I wasn't sure if that was a good choice for him even if they seemed alike enough, but Yorokobi didn't seem worried as she walked up. "So you think Shadow will work out?"

"Yeah," he said casually, adjusting a strap.

"Well, try mounting up. It isn't exactly your decision once you're in the saddle." I held my breath as Li carelessly swung onto Shadow's back like he'd done it all his life. For all I knew, he had. Shadow shifted his weight, snorted, and relaxed. Yorokobi turned to me and said, "You can mount up, too." I obediently got on Moonchaser. She whickered, but didn't move a muscle. Madison had just come out with her horse–and her camera–when a boy tripped on a bale of hay, knocking over a stack of tin buckets. They fell down with a ear-shattering crash and before I knew it, Moonchaser was rearing and squealing at the top of her lungs. It was all I could do to hang on as she churned the air with her forelegs. 

__

"WHOA!" I grabbed the reins and pulled hard, but she flung her head down and they flew out of my grasp, then went over her head and hung down by her legs. She came back down and her hooves had barely touched the ground when she took off. I strained to reach the reins as the trees flashed past, but they dangled just out of my reach. The mare wasn't called Moonchaser for nothing–she was _fast._

Really, really,_ really _fast. 

I tangled my fingers in her mane, knowing it couldn't hurt her [AN: Horses don't have nerves in their mane and tail, unlike us] and held in for dear life. The road only went so far, and I didn't want to find out what would happen when we reached the end. I doubted she'd stop there.

A second set of hoofbeats pounded in my ears as something dark drew alongside Moonchaser, then ahead of her. It was Li on Shadow. He stooped down and seized the reins, then passed them to me. I pulled back, gently at first, then harder until she stopped. For a minute, all I could do was sit there and catch my breath, my heart still pounding like crazy. Finally, I wheezed, "Thank you, Li." He nodded briskly and wheeled Shadow around, heading back. I nudged Moonchaser with my toe and she followed at a docile walk. Yorokobi ran out to meet us. "Are you all right?"

"Fine," I replied, "thanks to Li."

"That was some fantastic riding, both of you. Do you want to get off, Sakura? We can find you another mount."

I shook my head. "No. It was an accident, and well, I know what it's like to be scared like that. I just want to stay with Moonchaser. She only got frightened, and nobody got hurt, so..."

Yorokobi smiled. "You're right. If you're positive, then she's all yours."

"I am," I replied earnestly.

"Then walk her back. After a sprint like that, she needs to cool down."

I obeyed, and the rest of the session was fairly uneventful. We had lunch after that, and despite Sonomi's funding the hot dogs still tasted like plastic. There was a half-hour of free time, then we changed into our swimsuits and went down to the lakeshore. The swimming instructor went over the basics, then had us show her what all we could do. Shinju, Li, a guy from the Wolf Cabin named Arai, and I were the fastest, but even we were tired by the end of two hours. Of course, Li and Shinju didn't show it–they were both still trying to prove they were better than the other. I was reminded all too strongly of the field trip where we had caught the Erase card. After going back, showering, and changing, we went to crafts. Uta, the counselor for that, started us on clay sculptures but I couldn't decide what to do. Finally, I decided to just mold a cherry blossom, and it was looking okay when the thing started to take over me again. "The lake....go...." My world narrowed to the lake and going there. I was half-standing when something poked me hard. A totally different voice echoed in my mind, scolding me. 

**__**

Sakura, snap OUT of it! I glanced around, startled, and saw Shinju. I sat down with a thump, wide-eyed. She put her hand on my elbow and thought at me. **_I don't know what just happened, other than something putting a spell on you. We're in contact, so you can 'talk' back to me._**

Okay, thanks. Did you catch where it came from?

No. Shinrai and I only pick up on spells in action, not their originators. Sorry.

S'okay. With a sigh, I went back to my clay sculpture. Under the spell, I had accidentally clenched my hands around it and now what had been a cherry blossom was a shapeless blob. I'd have to start over. _Is that what the card wants to do to me?_ I wondered. 

__

Where **is** it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I glanced uneasily at Sakura. The same magic that I had felt the night before was ever so slowly surging again, but I was seated at another table so there was nothing I could do. She started to stand up, but Shinju looked over at her and, eyes, widening in surprise, poked her. When Sakura sat, there was a moment of silence, and then she went back to her sculpture, looking mildly frustrated. A few strands of hair fell over her eyes as she bent her head in concentration, but she absentmindedly pushed them away. I broke my gaze away, feeling warmth rise in my face for no apparent reason.

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Ack. Okay, that was a short, boring, and incredibly pointless chapter, but the next one is...um...interesting. Trust me, this isn't your typical "Go to camp, get in grave danger and passionately confess love to one another after defeating monster that nearly killed one of them" fics. I mean, any story that has a chapter titled "Jack Daniels and the Dancing Queen" (it's much later on) is bound to be interesting, no? If you want, you can also see an excerpt from another chapter in my profile. 

Adiosity!


	2. What you do when CPR just doesn't work; ...

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Two: What You Do When CPR Just Doesn't Work And the Results Thereof

Some of you may be going O.o over the chapter's title, but you'll see why in a bit. This chapter has much more humor than the first one, and from now on they are all guaranteed to have S+S in them! Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Do I LOOK like I own this fic? Does it LOOK like I own these characters? I DIDN'T THINK SO.

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****

Sakura

The next days were pretty uneventful. On Tuesday, we went for a hike right after breakfast, then came back for Archery. It was _not_ something that came easily to me—I only hit the outer two rings when I was lucky. Then it was time for lunch, and after that we had games. We played a game of kickball, with Shinju and Arai as team captains. Because eight people only couldn't play a full game, we teamed up with two other groups and it was boys vs. girls. We won. Madison recorded the whole time, even when she was at bat and out in the field. Shinju was our pitcher, and she was _fast._ I could tell she easy on everyone—except Li. He came up to the plate, and they locked eyes for a moment, glaring fiercely at eachother. Then Shinju hurled the ball at his feet, so fast I could barely see it. It missed his toe by a few inches. Shinju smirked. Li scowled. And the fight was back on. For a long moment, no one breathed or dared to breathe as the catcher threw the ball back to her and she held it, hesitating. Then there was a sudden movement and the ball was tearing towards Li in a blurred red streak. A solid _thwack_ broke the silence and the red ball flew into the air. I looked up, but the sun was too bright for me to make it out. Then the round dot of scarlet was plummeting to the ground in a place where nobody was...but someone was running towards it. She made a spectacular jump, then seized the ball and dropped to the ground, rolling to lessen the impact. With a grin of triumph, Shinju sat up and waved the ball in the air.

On Wednesday I had another wonderful ride on Moonchaser. We rode along the lakeshore, and I got a slight tan from the light bouncing off the water. I wasn't paying any attention, though; the card was the first thing on my mind. Where was it? Which one was it? And, most important of all, what would happen if nobody broke me out of the spell?

Thursday morning was uneventful. We hiked to the top of a hill, then went to archery. My aim was slowly improving, which was a plus. In games, we had a soccer match and Shinju kicked some serious ass in the midfield. Then it was time for canoeing.

I was walking with my cabin as we went down to the dock. Our counselor for canoeing, Nari, hadn't come back with the other group yet, so we waited for her on the dock. Shinju, Shinrai, and I waited close to the end, a little way from the others so they wouldn't hear us.

"Any progress on the card?" Shinrai whispered.

"No, I haven't had a chance yet to do much," I replied softly.

"I'd record it, but I'm showing this tape at the end, so..." Madison said sadly.

I was about to respond when the feeling came over me, stronger than I'd ever felt it. I lost all control over my mind and body as something took over, ordering me to go to the lake _now._ All that remained in my mind was the barest intelligence, and it numbly obeyed. My mind screamed in incoherent terror, shrieking for help and knowing I'd get none as the card pulled me nearer to the end of the dock. Cold water rushed over my head as I dropped off. I fought the spell and gained control—of my head. My lungs screamed, and I tried to yell, but water rushed in my mouth and nose, choking me. I couldn't cough.

Blackness enfolded me in dusky wings.

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****

3rd Person/Shinrai

Shinrai chatted uneasily with Sakura and the others on the dock. Something wasn't quite right, but what was it?

Her question was answered as Sakura stiffened; her eyes turned to smooth orbs of green, the pupils gone. A surge of magic sheathed her as 'screaming' filled Shinrai's mental ears. The magicked girl strode coolly to the end of the pier and walked off. 

**__**

LI!!! Shinrai shrieked mentally, knowing he was the only one who not only knew what was going on but could do something about it. Unlike her twin, she didn't have to be in contact to 'talk' with anyone. He was the only one who could help Sakura.

Shinrai was behind the times, though. Everyone in the group had watched in surprise as Sakura had walked off; now they watched in shock as Li sprinted to the end and plunged in after her.

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****

Li

__

Help me! Somebody—anybody—for god's sake—help me!

Sakura's 'voice' echoed in my head as a strong surge of magic seized of her. She simply walked off the pier, the water closing over her head with hardly a ripple.

**__**

LI!!! Shinrai yelled at me, but I was already running after Sakura. 

**__**

I can't breathe...dear god, I'm going to die....nobody's helping me... Her voice was weakening, dying away. **_I'm going to die alone...and nobody knows how much I care about them...god, don't let me die..._** It faded, then went silent as I dove into the lake, the chilly waters biting my nerves. All I could think about was getting to Sakura before it was too late. 

I opened my eyes. The lake was a dark, deadly quiet world here, with green shafts of light spearing the shadows here and there. I looked around frantically, but there was no sign of her. Where was she? The floor of the lake was my best bet, but it was covered in weeds. I swam lower and searched. No Sakura.

Turning, I realized I was running out of breath and would have to surface. 

Without her. 

For a moment, I hesitated, but the impassive, coldly rational voice in my head said, _You won't be helping her if you die, too._ It was right. I shot up to the surface, gulped in air, then dove back down. _Calm down. Hurrying means mistakes._ I looked carefully, but couldn't find her. Dread filled me as I had to surface a second time. Was she still alive, after spending that much time down there? I dove down once more, desperately hoping she wasn't dead. This time, I saw something white peeking out from a large rock and got over there as fast as I could. It was Sakura. Her face was eerily green-white from the water, shadows flickering across. Her eyes were closed, and the expression on her face was one on unconscious serenity. It was like a painting. I slipped an arm around her waist and kicked my legs, propelling us up. Part of me hoped that when we broke the surface, she'd wake up. 

No such luck.

She stayed as lifeless as I'd ever seen her.

[AN: I know, this isn't exactly what I'd call a riot, but it gets better! I swear, it does!]

I swam to shore, now fairly tired. As soon as my feet hit sand, I stood and carried her to where I could set her down. Kneeling in the sand, I tried to remember what Mother had taught me about CPR. _This has to work._ I put my hands on her diaphragm [AN: Is that even spelled right? For those of you who don't know, it's under your lungs.] and pushed, but there was no response. "Come on, Sakura. Wake up." I repeated it, but she didn't stir. This couldn't be happening. Sakura could not be dead. She couldn't die doing what she was chosen to do—that wasn't supposed to happen. It never happened. Her life could not be over that fast. How could she even be the way she was right now? Not even moving, I mean. She was always so bouncy and bright, even when it almost killed her...There _had_ to be something I hadn't done.

And then I remembered.

__

"If CPR doesn't work, you have to go to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." 

I felt my face get very, very, very hot. _I can't do **that!** It—it wouldn't be...right...or...I can't do it!_

You want her to** live,** don't you? that oh-so-annoying voice asked. _Besides, when's the next time you're going to get a chance to kiss a girl like Sakura?_

It** isn't** a kiss! Part of me protested, but the annoying voice had a point. I had no right to possibly let Sakura die because I was too immature. Ignoring the people gathered around us, I bent down and fastened my mouth over hers, exhaling. She didn't respond, so I let go, inhaled, and breathed into her once more. There wasn't any response and no one dared make the tiniest of noises. Tension filled the air. _"Don't leave me, Sakura,"_ I whispered, and I did it again. She stirred and I pulled away, blushing like crazy. Madison and Shinju shoved me out of the way as Sakura started choking and coughing up the water that had nearly killed her. I backed away as Nari helped her sit up, saying, "Take it easy, Sakura. Everybody, just go back to your cabins and take the session off, okay?"

Part of me wanted to go make sure Sakura was all right, but another part wanted to go back and hide in the cabin. That part won. I went back, then showered and changed. 

When I wearily opened the door, my hair still damp from the showers, my cabinmates were back.

"Li likes Sakura, Li likes Sakura!" Raiu sang, taunting me.

"I do_ not!" _I protested, flushing with embarrassment.

"Then why'd you _kiss_ her?" Kumo asked, grinning.

"It **wasn't** a kiss!" I yelled, now beet red.

Arai walked in, lazily commenting, "At least Li can get one in, Kumo." He smirked, adding, "I don't think either of you could say as much."

"Ouch." Kumo cringed, pretended to fall over like he'd been wounded, then sprang back up. "Did you know that the French invented mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?"

"Really?" I don't know quite why I always buy people's lies—maybe it's because I find it pointless to waste breath and time on anything but the truth, and don't understand why anyone would do otherwise.

"He's lying." Arai punched him in the shoulder.

"I knew that!" I said defensively. Kumo was a lot like Zachary, but weirder and with the most bizarre sense of humor I've ever seen.

"It would make sense!" He argued. "I mean, they don't call it french kissing for nothing, and frenching and mouth-to-mouth are basically the same thing!"

**__**

"NO THEY **AREN'T!**" I said fiercely.

"Frenching has tongue. Mouth-to-mouth doesn't," Arai added. "Although, I gotta ask you, Li. Would you do it again if you had the chance?"

"What, mouth-to-mouth?" At his nod, I blushed again. "Depends who it'd be on."

"Sakura."

I hadn't thought it would be possible, but somehow I turned even redder. "I-I don't know," I stammered, but something told me I definitely would not mind.

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****

Sakura [AN: Back to when she falls in the lake]

I drifted in a world of subconscious darkness. Nothing really mattered to me, because I was pretty sure I was dead. My life was done. I'd died before I could capture all the cards, become the card mistress, or even tell the people I cared about how much I loved them. It was sad—no, it sucked—but it was true.

"Come on, Sakura. Wake up." A voice echoed in my ear, as though they'd been right over me.

Who was that? Something was pulling me back, but who was it? I waited again, nervous shivers crawling over me. It came again, a minute later, though much softer and more desperate.

__

"Don't leave me, Sakura."

Was it Li?

Ha. I wished.

Then I was back in my body—cold and shivering, but alive. Someone's mouth was on mine, but they pulled away as I moved. Suddenly, I made the mistake of trying to breathe in and found my lungs were still full of water, which I proceeded to hack out until I couldn't cough up any more while at the same time trying to breathe in. After a few minutes, I got the hang of it and managed to catch my breath. A counselor helped me up, and we shakily made our way back to the cabin. I somehow made it the half-mile to the showers, then the other half-mile back, and finding myself in clean, dry clothes and free of all the waterweeds and muck, I decided it was time for a nap and fell asleep. 

On my feet. 

Luckily for me, my cabinmates must have caught me because when I woke up I was in my bed. Giggles heralded my return to consciousness, and I sat up to find them watching an unfamiliar tape. "Uh....hi."

"Sakura!" Madison muted it and whirled around.

"What are you watching?"

Shinju grinned. "As soon as we knew you were okay, we decided to make good use of our free time and over to the guy's cabin and secretly set up the camera." She frowned and added, "We don't know where it is, though. All we could find was the tape."

"I-I don't know," Li stuttered on the screen as Madison un-muted it. He was blushing and didn't look very happy.

"Um...what all happened?" I asked slowly. "The last thing I remember is the card pulling me off the dock."

"Oh, really?" Shinju asked happily. "Pause it, Madison."

"It's really cute," she added as she complied. "Right after you went in, Li just flew in behind you."

__

"Li?!" I squeaked.

Shinrai nodded. "Yeah, and he was really freaked."

"It took him a couple of tries to find you, but then he got you back to shore and gave you CPR." Shinju grinned. "You didn't wake up, so he...uh..."

"Took it to the next level," Madison supplied with a giggle.

"Oh, no!" I covered my burning face with my hands. "You don't mean..."

"Yep!" Shinrai said cheerfully. "Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

"I—uh—but—him—and—oh my _GOD."_ My face couldn't have turned any redder if you'd set it on fire. "I don't believe it," I said dreamily. "I'll just say it didn't happen, so it didn't."

"Oh, you'd better believe it!" Shinju's evil grin showed far too many teeth for my comfort. "We've got the tape to prove it!"

"Madison!"

"It's so sweet, though!" she protested. "It's every girl's fantasy to be out on a beach kissing a tall, dark-haired guy!"

"It _wasn't_ a _kiss!_" I yelled.

"And it is SO going on the final tape!"

"Madison, NO!"

"Like it or not, your--um...moment, yeah, moment--is going on there," Shinju said wickedly. "It practically _over_-qualifies as a 'best' moment of Camp Nadeshiko."

"Hey, can we go back to the guys' conversation?" Shinrai asked. "I, for one, am interested to hear what _they_ have to say on the subject."

"And this is right after we'd set it up, right?" Shinju asked. "So we don't know what they said after that, because we left and came back for it later. All we found was the tape, so..."

"Yep!" Madison pressed play. "We're hoping this'll give us some hints."

"So, what was it like?" someone asked.

"I-I don't know," Li muttered again. "Why are you asking?"

"Cuz Kumo'll never get a girl to kiss him, so he's going for the next best thing," another boy said rudely.

"Shut up, Raiu!"

"It _wasn't_ a _kiss!"_

"It was and you know it," Raiu said, smirking.

"Even if it was, it'd never happen to _you,_" Arai commented from somewhere to the left. "You'd have to hit a girl over the head and knock her out or wait 'til she was asleep or something to kiss her."

"Like Li?"

"IT **WASN'T **A **KISS!" **he shouted, now about as red as I was.

"No, it was _mouth-to-mouth resuscitation,"_ Raiu simpered, mimicing him.

"Piss _off,_ Raiu," Li said coldly.

"Oh, on the _defensive_ now, are we?" Kumo said evilly. "Why_ is _that, Li?"

"I'm not on the defensive!"

"Back off, you guys," Arai said casually. "You know they're just jealous, Li. They can't get a girl to kiss 'em, even for money. They tried."

"It wasn't a kiss!" Li protested.

"I know, I know." There was a pause and then Arai said suspiciously, "What's that?"

"What?"

"Where?"

"Over there, by the window."

"It looks....like.... a camera...." Kumo said slowly.

"No," Li said suddenly. "Looks like _Madison's_ camera."

"Is it recording?"

"I don't know."

Raiu got up, cracking a knuckle, but Arai said sharply, "Don't touch it!"

"Why not?"

"Madison's mother sponsors the camp, and breaking her daughter's camera isn't the kind of thank you letter we want to send."

"So what do we do?"

"We take it hostage." Arai thrust his face into the lens, gray eyes gleaming Satanically. "You recording? As soon as you're done watching this, you come over here and...uh...what're our demands?"

"Umm...Arai, get in here and help us!" Kumo dragged him away from the camera.

We could see Arai, Kumo, and Raiu huddling together while Li watched, uneasy. A minute later, he came back grinning. "First, you have to serve our table at every meal for the rest of the time at camp." We stared at each other, aghast, as he continued. "Second, one of you has to...this is Raiu's idea, not mine...one of you has to kiss him and Kumo so they don't feel like the incompetent scum they are."

"Hey!"

"Arai!"

"Third, Shinju has to write a letter to us stating that she is aware we are better than her in every way and hereby forfeits all bragging rights. And she has to read it out loud to everybody at Campfire on Saturday. That's all, folks." He reached out to the side of the lens, and the screen went blank.

There was utter silence in the cabin; then all hell broke loose in the form of Shinju. After letting out an

ear-shattering shriek of pure, inhuman rage, followed by _"Shit! Shit!_ Those little _BASTARDS!_", her eyes started bulging from their sockets and a vein started bulging on her neck and her forehead.

"We can't do _that!_" Madison protested. 

I got up, stunned, and looked out the window, trying to think of to deal with this new problem. _Their cabin isn't all that far from ours,_ I realized. An idea started to form in my mind. "You guys, we don't have to go through with this."

"Well, Madison _has_ to get her camera back!" Shinrai said helplessly.

"No, that's not what I mean." A grin spread across my face. "You know, sometimes it's good to be the Card Captor."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So what is Sakura's idea? Does Li have feelings for Sakura? Likewise? More importantly, when the hell will I shut up? All that and more is coming up in the next chapters! Adiosity again!


	3. A Cherry Blossom Revenge

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Three: A Cherry Blossom Revenge

Okay, peeps. You know the routine. Let's just get this show on the road, okay?

Disclaimer: I own nothing except for a few CD's, a crapload of sketchbooks, some really cool markers, and some other useless junk. So if you want to sue me, go wild. All you're getting is what I like to refer to as "diddly-squat." And no, I don't own CCS. Or anything in this fic. Go on, write a sequel if you want. Just do me a favor and keep it non-hentai...and wait 'til I'm finished with this one.

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****

Sakura

"Well, Madison _has_ to get her camera back!" Shinrai said helplessly. 

"No, that's not what I mean." A grin spread across my face. "You know, sometimes it's good to be the Card Captor."

"Has she snapped?" Madison asked quietly.

"I wouldn't blame her if she did," Shinju replied. "I mean, just the thought of having to kiss those two....ugh..."

"That's it, though! We don't have to!"

"How?"

Five minutes later, Shinju was carrying me across the distance between cabins in the palm of her hand. "Are you sure about this?" She whispered. I was less than an inch tall, thanks to the Little Card, and if I spoke she wouldn't be able to hear me, so I nodded. "Got the note?" I nodded again and she set me down, thinking to me, **_Good luck!_**

I crawled under the crack in the door with ease, very glad I'd taken the cards to camp. The boys' voices thundered above me, too loud to understand. I scanned the cabin for any sign of the camera, hiding near a bedpost.

Suddenly, Arai's lowered voice echoed above me. "Hey, let's go see what the girls are doing!"

"Yeah!"

"Come on, Li!"

"Whatever."

I had to warn my cabin. **_Shinju! Shinrai! Can either of you hear me?!_**

Shinrai here. What's happening?

I ran under a bed as the boys jumped up and started going outside. **_The boys are coming to spy on you! Go wait on the porch and act like you never saw the tape! And stall them for me—ask them to run an errand or something._**

Okay, can do. There was almost a click as her voice shut off in my mind, and I waited, barely breathing, until I was positive the guys were out of earshot. As soon as the last footsteps had faded, I walked out from under the bed and returned to my normal size. The camera was just sitting out in the open, on someone's bed. _How stupid can they get?_ I wondered, picking it up and putting it into my backpack. 

Then inspiration struck.

Grinning, I took out the Flower card. "Flower, a half-foot of cherry blossoms, if you please," I said loftily.

She giggled and danced happily over the room, dumping petals everywhere—on beds, shelves, rafters, and anywhere else that wasn't covered. I put her back once there were enough, dropped the note where the camera had been, then stood near the door, shrank myself again, and went outside. The boys were nowhere in sight, and neither was anyone else, so I returned to my normal size, shrank the wand, and ran back to the cabin.

"Well?" Shinju asked, grinning. 

I handed Madison the camera. "Done!" There was laughter and rowdy voices coming closer—the boys. I took back the camera and shoved them outside, hissing, "If they ask, I'm still asleep!"

There was a murmur of conversation, then they came back inside, giggling. We waited silently until the signal our revenge had been a success came.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"

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****

Li

"I'm not sure about this, you guys," I said uneasily. "I don't know about the others, but Sakura can be pretty freaky when she gets mad."

"Well, it's obvious they haven't seen the tape yet," Raiu said scornfully. "They have no clue that we took the camera."

"Yeah, Madison even asked us to get something for her," Kumo laughed. "What was it again?"

"Extra beads for her bracelet project." Arai smirked. "And they're just dumb girls. What could they do?"

I was still nervous, though. Why _wouldn't_ they watch the tape first thing? Something was up and I tried to say so but Kumo and the others just laughed and said I was being paranoid. We got the beads from the craft counselor and headed back. Madison and the twins were waiting for us on the porch.

"Where's Sakura?" Raiu asked curiously.

"Oh, she's still asleep," Shinrai said with a sugar-sweet smile. "She must've been really tired, to be out for—what time is it now, four o' clock? She's been napping for two hours now."

"O-okay," Kumo stuttered. "We're, uh, going to go back now."

I snorted. Arai, Kumo, and Raiu had come up with the 'demands,' not me, and I could tell he was thinking twice. I wasn't sure what exactly they were, but Kumo wasn't too happy any more about at least one of them. Arai seized his elbow and dragged him away as I heard giggles and the door shutting behind us. They'd gone back inside the cabin.

Raiu clunked up the steps and opened the door. His yell of shock shook the rafters, causing a few petals to drift down. 

The entire cabin was coated in cherry blossoms, even though it was summer—Sakura's work, though they couldn't know. "Dumb girls, huh?" I asked sarcastically, wading through the ankle-deep carpet and picking up the note they had left. The camera was nowhere in site.

The note read:

__

Thanks for the conversation! It's going on the final tape–Madison's the camp recorder, if you didn't know. Next time, let's get some drama!

P.S. Your 'demands' SUCK.

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****

Sakura

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" 

We cracked up as Raiu yelled, high-fiving. "Score!"

"They'll NEVER mess with us again," Shinju crowed. "It _rules_ having the Card Captor in our cabin!"

"Oh, stop," I said, laughing. "They deserved it for trying to get us to do those disgusting 'demands.' "

"And boy, did we get them back. So the conversation is really going on the final tape?" Shinrai asked.

"Yep—or at least, most of it."

"But why'd they yell? It's not that big of a deal if the camera's gone..." Shinju mused.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you." I blushed. The cherry blossoms were my touch. "I used the Flower card and dumped cherry blossoms all over their cabin. It'll take a while to clean up."

Shinrai's eyes widened and she giggled helplessly. Madison whistled appreciatively, and Shinju howled with laughter, finally wiping tears away and giggling, "You _RULE!_ That is _way_ too good! Oh, that's rich! I would give _anything_ to see the looks on their faces!"

"Yeah, I know." A sudden thought occurred to me, and I paled. "Li will know it was me."

"So?"

"So he'll probably be really mad."

"Too bad." Shinju snorted, and flopped down on her bed. "He wanted me to say he was better than me."

"Wait a sec—no, he didn't. Raiu, Kumo, and Arai came up with that." Madison frowned. "Do you think he'll be mad?"

"I don't know..." I said. Leaning out the window, I saw the four boys come out of the cabin. Li said something about trash bags and the other three went away. He waited until they were out of sight, then went back inside. A moment later, I felt a small surge of magic as petals sprayed from the open door and windows. _He must've used his magic,_ I figured. It looked like his cabin was the center of a light pink blizzard as the magic wind blew the flowers away. Eventually, the flow slowed and I guessed most of the flowers were gone. Li went after his cabinmates, giving a rueful look to the pink-white piles around the small cabin. I had a final trick for them. "Erase card!" I tapped it and the petals vanished, inside the cabin and out.

"Why'd you do that?" Shinju demanded, looking as though someone had taken her prized teddy bear.

"To confuse them," I replied. "Just wait—tonight, I've got an interesting notion."

She grinned. "Works for me."

I went back to gazing out the window. [AN: She does that a lot in this story.] Li and his friends had come back, and everyone was looking for the flowers confusedly but him. Li frowned, then looked towards our cabin, eyebrows raised. I grinned and waved, looking like the standard, innocent, cheerful Sakura I usually was. We locked eyes for a moment, then he turned away. I sighed. Li was too much of a puzzle for me.

Dinner was, as always, interesting. Shinju 'accidentally' dumped some ice water down Arai's back, but pretended not to notice his yelp of shock as she sashayed past.

We had free time after dinner, so I went for a walk. The sun was just setting over the hills as I made my way down to the lake. Oddly, I wasn't afraid of it; probably because I knew the card had pulled me in. The waves lapped softly at the sand as I sat on a rock, staring out to the other side. So that was what the card did—control me. And it wanted me to drown, so it tried to make me go to the lake. Not a pleasant one. But where was it? And next time, would it succeed? I got up, wandering aimlessly to get my mind off drowning. The world was becoming more and more complicated every day and Li wasn't helping. Why save me, if he only thought I was in the way? Was he mad about the cherry blossoms? I rounded a bend in the shore. There was the dock—but someone was standing on the end, staring out at the still waters like I'd been.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I stood on the end of the dock, gazing at the lake that had almost swallowed Sakura. The card that had done that was dangerous and we had to find it fast, or Sakura could end up permanently dead.

I smiled inwardly, remembering the revenge of the Cherry Blossom Cabin. That was actually pretty funny, although I wondered what had been in the 'demands' that was enough to set them off like that.

"Li?"

I whirled around, startled. Sakura was standing awkwardly where the pier met the sand, about fifteen feet away. "Yeah?"

"Umm...sorry about the flowers..." she said softly.

"No, it's okay. They deserved it." I paused, then asked, "What were their 'demands'?"

She smiled, and I caught my breath. The dying sunlight turned her face a rosy gold and her hair a rich auburn, but Sakura's eyes were still a glimmering emerald. "They wanted to have us serve your table at every meal, Shinju write a letter saying that she wasn't as good at anything as you guys and read it out loud at Campfire, and—" She coughed and blushed prettily "—have one of us kiss Kumo and Raiu so they 'wouldn't feel like the incompetent scum they are.' "

I raised my eyebrows in disgust. "That's just downright sick, twisted, and _wrong."_

"Yeah, I know."

"That's really nasty," I said, still shocked. "I should've made them clean up after all."

Sakura seemed to think for a minute, then said, "Could you...well, tell a ghost story or something tonight? I've got an idea, and I need them to be in the right mind frame."

"Uh, sure."

There was a long pause as she looked out to the lake, then asked softly, "Do you know where it is?"

I didn't need to ask what she was talking about. "No."

"Me neither." She shivered, and I felt pretty bad for her. _Why did it have to choose Sakura?_ I thought involuntarily. Nobody should have to live like this, knowing they could be forced to kill themselves at any given moment, and least of all Sakura. Why her?

__

Because she's the Card Captor, my annoying voice reminded me. _She was born to do this._

"It's okay," I said awkwardly. "We'll find it soon."

"I hope so," she said sadly. "I-I think I'm going to go back." She started to walk away, then turned again, blushing. "Li?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"For what?"

Her cheeks flushed a bright pink. "For—helping me in the lake—"

I nodded silently, unable to speak, and she ran off. Turning back to the lake, I stared hard at the rippling waters. 

__

Don't worry, Sakura. I'll find that card some way.** Any** way. I can't risk losing you again.

Where the _hell_ had that thought come from? I felt my face grow warm, remembering how scared I had been, wondering if Sakura was going to live. Unbidden, the moment I had found her flashed into my mind.

All I had been able to think of was Sakura, and I—Li the emotionless—had been terrified. But_why?_

I went back to the cabin after a while. Arai was still mad at Shinju for dumping ice water down his back and was complaining bitterly, but I ignored him. As soon as lights out came, I tried to remember what Zachary had said about ghost stories. Looking out the window, I saw a dim silhouette, but I ignored it, and, sitting up, suggested we tell ghost stories. Raiu and Kumo were immediately thrilled and Kumo launched into a really creepy and disgusting story. I didn't pay any attention to him, instead wondering why Sakura needed them in the right mind frame. My question was answered a moment later as something white and glowing drifted under the crack in the door and into the cabin. I nearly jumped out of my skin, but then I felt the familiar prickle of magic and realized it was Sakura using the Create card.

The glowing mist rose and formed a tall woman with silver-green eyes, long, algae-green hair, a crown of pond weeds, and silver wings clad in a Greek-style robe. Kumo broke off with a gurgle, and terrified silence filled the cabin. The woman looked around at all of us, then said in a bell-like, steely tone, "Who....are Raiu, Arai.....and Kumo?"

All three made a strange, gagging noise as I watched, masking my amusement.

"I...am...the Lady Guardian...of the Lake..." she whispered, eyes blazing. "What you three...did....today....was disgusting."

"They—they started it—" Arai choked out.

"SILENCE!" Illusional silver flames erupted around her, and she whirled to face him. "You _scum!_ How _dare_ you address me?!"

He whimpered as a pink bubble gathered around him and he levitated above the bed. Raiu let out a girlish scream, sounding just like Chelsea, and passed out. Immaterial cherry blossoms drifted throughout the cabin, vanishing as soon as they hit the ground. "You will NEVER bother the girls of the Cherry Blossom cabin again, or I will know and I will return." She turned to face Kumo, then pointed at me. "This young man saved a girl's life. You will never come even close to doing ANYTHING that important, dog. One more word of ridicule and I will ensure that whenever you open your mouth, your tongue burns like fire and acid will rain only on you." She backed up as Raiu woke again, then turned into mist once more, leaving with an ominous "Don't forget..." The bubble around Arai vanished, and he fell with a thump. None of us fell asleep for a long time after that, although my reason was different from the others'. I couldn't stop thinking about Sakura, which confused and annoyed me to no end and kept me awake even longer than the others. Finally, even Arai hit Dreamland, but I wasn't tired at all. Looking out the window, I saw the full moon reflected in the lake. My mind drifted back to the short conversation on the dock. 

__

"Thanks..."

"For what?" 

"For—helping me in the lake—"

I gazed at the moon and saw her face, full of laughter. "You're welcome, Sakura."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura [Back to when she's using the Create card]

I giggled, controlling the "Lady Guardian" and making her as imposingly terrifying as possible. Shinju was assisting me, and she grudgingly admitted Li might be okay after witnessing him help us. "Use the Float card on Arai now!" she hissed, and I obeyed with another smothered giggle. When I thought they'd had enough, we 'sent the Lady back' and returned to the cabin, only to be assaulted by Madison and Shinrai. They demanded the details, and we told them in between frequent bursts of laughter.

The next morning, Shinju was the server for our table. She frowned as she passed Li's table, but didn't comment when she came back, which was odd enough. When she insisted on going for seconds, we realized something was up. She took longer than usual, but returned with a huge grin and a plate of sausages.

"Oh, _no." _Shinrai paled. "What did you do?"

"Just—er—partially fulfilled the 'Lady Guardian's' threat," she said semi-innocently. "Kumo was making fun of Li again. Watch him."

I stared nervously at their table. Kumo dumped ketchup on his scrambled eggs, then took a huge bite. He chewed for a moment, unsuspecting. 

And then things started changing.

His face turned first white, then red, and finally an interesting shade of purple as he scrabbled for his glass of water and threw it down his throat. It didn't seem to help. He seized everybody else's water and drank them, but they didn't appear to be that effective either. Wide-eyed and desperate, he grabbed the water pitcher and dumped it over his head. 

Someone set their glass down with a bang and he nearly jumped out of his skin. Arai's eye was twitching psychotically, and Raiu had broken into a cold sweat, trembling like a leaf in the wind.

"Hot sauce?" Madison asked.

"Hot sauce," she confirmed smugly. "Five-alarm. Muy calliente. Kumo opened his mouth, and, well, his tongue burned like fire. The Lady Guardian of the Lake strikes again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay people! Reviews are welcome, even flames...oh yeah, and by the way there's going to be a total of nine chapters. Yet again, there's an excerpt from the next one in my profile, so feel free to read it. And there's lots more S+S coming up, along with parts that will ensure that you think...no, KNOW that I have no morals. What am I talking about? Well, what would happen if Li and Sakura's cabinmates decide that those two aren't moving along fast enough and try to...um...speed up the process? And they know that the best way to inspire desperate actions is a little green-eyed monster called Jealousy....get my drift? So just hold on to your hats, cuz the ride's getting even wilder! Adiosity until later!


	4. Of Trees, Tables, and Potato Wars

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Four: Of Trees, Tables, and Potato Wars

Okely dokely! Everybody ready for another insane chapter? This one has reenactments from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (which I don't own), crazy trips on the wand, and new arrivals. X_X I've been typing way too long...my Dad thinks I've been playing the same computer game for two days straight, but I've really been typing. Go figure.

Disclaimer: I ::choke:: don't ::sob:: own CCS...or any of these characters....this is just a story I made up cuz I was bored....SO DON'T SUE ME! YOU'LL GET DIDDLY-SQUAT!

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****

Sakura

All was uneventful until the free time after dinner. We walked back to the cabin as usual, and when we went in everything was fine. I flopped down on my bed, tired from the day's activities, and closed my eyes. About to doze off, I was yanked back into reality by something landing on my stomach with a thump. 

"HOE!?" I sat bolt upright to find something yellow, winged, and familiar wheezing somewhere above my liver. _"Kero?!"_

"S-Sakura....I've been flying....since...Monday..." he gasped. "There's...a...a...card here...and I figured you...could use...my help."

"Since Monday?" Madison asked.

"Well," he admitted, "I did...stop for food...a couple times."

"Kero, we had this handled," I said, irate. 

"We?" he asked. "Can you get me something to eat?"

Shinrai fished some crackers out of her pockets, saying, "My twin and I are descendants of Clow Reed too, so don't worry."

Kero stuffed them down his throat, mumbling, "The card--what's it done?"

"It keeps trying to pull me into the lake."

"And it succeeded," Madison added, grinning. "Li had to pull her out and give her mouth—"

I clapped my hand over her mouth, whining, "Madison!"

"—to-mouth resuscitation," Shinju finished, laughing. "Sakura told us it just seems to take over her mind."

"Huh...sounds like the Control—did you say _mouth-to-mouth?!"_

"Yep," she confirmed with a smirk.

__

"That brat! Why, I oughta—"

"News flash: I'd be _dead_ now if he _hadn't!"_ I insisted.

"News flash: he had no right to kiss you, especially when you weren't awake!" Kero retorted.

"It _wasn't_ a _kiss!_" I seized the end of his tail before he flew out the window, no doubt ready to go yell at Li for saving my life. "Kero, knock it off! You can't _do_ that here! We've gotta concentrate on the card, not picking fights with everyone _you_ don't like!"

He growled and muttered something, but sat down on the bed. "This sounds like the control card. You say it tries to get you to the lake?" At my nod, he said positively, "Well, that's where it is, then."

"The lake?" Shinju asked, intrigued. "Weird. So when are you going to catch it, Sakura?"

"Tomorrow night," I said firmly. "That way I'll have plenty of time to see what Li knows about it."

"You don't need that brat!" Kero protested.

"He isn't a brat! Besides, he's been a lot of help and you know it." I got up. "I'll go see if I can get you some food."

After pleading sudden starvation to the lunch ladies, I was able to get some sandwiches and scurried off, bumping into Li on my way out. "Oh, sorry."

"It's okay." He handed me a PBJ I'd dropped. "Why the extra food? Is Madison making a new video that features you eating something?"

I shuddered. "You tell her that idea, and she'll do it. Actually, worse happened. Kero came."

Li scowled. "He would."

"Are we talking about yours truly?" Kero shoved his face into mine, flying out of nowhere.

"AAAAAHHHH!" I grabbed him by the neck and stuffed him under the stack of sandwiches. "Do the words 'low profile' mean ANYTHING to you?!"

"Nope!" he said cheerfully, poking his head out. 

I sighed. "He says the card's in the lake."

"It's the chew Controlmmph Card," he said between mouthfuls. "She says tomorrow would be a good time to go after it."

"Works for me," Li said with a shrug.

"Oh yeah!" Kero swallowed, then bellowed, "IF YOU GET ANYWHERE NEAR SAKURA WHEN SHE'S UNCONSCIOUS AGAIN I'LL—" 

I turned red and crammed half a sandwich into his mouth, then said hastily to Li, "I'll talk to you later."

He was blushing hard too. "Okay."

I ran off, one hand keeping Kero under the sandwiches. _Whatever happened to a vacation?_

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

__

I can't believe that stuffed animal's here, I thought ruefully. _He knows about the Clow cards, but that's it._

I returned to the cabin and flopped down on my bed with an inner sigh. _If Mei Lin was here, she'd kick his furry little ass all over camp. I wonder if she's coming back from Hong Kong any time soon. And if there are any open spots in a cabin._

"Hey!" Kumo popped up in front of me.

"Heyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyheyhey!!!"

I sat up and backed away nervously. "Now what?"

Arai and Raiu ran in. "Catch him! Some idiot let Kumo have two of the Red Bulls he sneaked into camp!"

"Dear _God._" I dived at him, but he bounced away with a high-pitched giggle. "Block the exits!"

I covered the door; Raiu and Arai each took a window. "On three?" Arai jerked his head at the now violently shaking Kumo and we nodded. "One...two...three!" We all tackled him at once. Raiu and I held him down as Arai grabbed rope from a drawer and bound his hands and feet. We forced him into a chair and lashed him to it, then stood back and surveyed our work.

"So now what?" Raiu said with disgust. "He's going to keep us up all night."

Arai frowned. "Not if I can help it." He went to his backpack and pulled out a small pill bottle. "Sometimes I can't sleep, and these help." Squinting at the label, he said, "Two of them oughta do it."

"Is that safe?" I asked doubtfully.

"Is that safe? Well, is it? Huh? Is it safe, Arai? Is it? Is it? Is it safe? Huh, Arai? Is it safe?" Kumo managed to jump in his chair, the legs thumping down on the floor.

"You want to put up with _that_ all night?" Raiu asked pointedly.

I sighed and muttered, "If he dies, I had _nothing_ to do with this."

Insomnia hit me fairly hard that night, and I couldn't sleep again. Something kept bothering me, but what?

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. There was definitely something wrong. I looked out the window to see a slim form, white in the moonlight, wade into the lake.

Sakura.

I jumped out the window. Magic was surging in the water—the card was at it again.

I broke into a sprint, hoping I wouldn't be too late. She was already up to her neck in the dark water when I hit the sand, but she stopped. I swam out as the spell flickered—she was fighting it. Slipping an arm around her waist, I yanked her back and strode to shore. _Talk about déjà vu._

Sakura started shivering as soon as we reached the beach. A series of terrified curses I didn't think she knew poured from her blue lips as she scowled, releasing the wand. "That's IT, that card is going down."

"Use the Silent card," I advised. "Otherwise you'll wake everybody up."

She nodded and blanketed us in quiet. After a moment of thought, she used the Power card, then ran to the lake and brought the wand down hard on its edge. _Of course,_ I thought. _If it's controlling her, she just has to overpower its control._ The lake shook and a minute later the card's true form appeared—a young girl in gray, holding puppet strings. Smiling, she moved one and Sakura stumbled back, tripping on a rock. The girl moved the strings in her other hand, and I was thrown back. Sakura clenched her hand around the rock, straining as the Control tried unsuccessfully to make her move again. Slowly, she raised the wand and shouted the incantation. The Control was pulled into the card,

and it drifted into her hand. She returned the Power and the Silent, muttering, "So much for tomorrow night."

"Is there any chance someone could have seen us?" I asked, worried.

"No, I wasn't sure if it would attack so I used the Sleep card right before Control got me."

I blinked, then smirked. The Sleep would last a while, and it would postpone the effects of any drugs someone under its spell had taken. Kumo wouldn't be waking up for a while. "Okay. I'm going back, and you might want to too." I headed back to the cabin, then changed into dry clothes and fell asleep. 

"Dude, do you think we killed him?" Raiu whispered as I woke up. The sunlight was streaming in the window and falling across Kumo's motionless face.

"I don't know," Arai hissed back.

"I had _nothing_ to do with this." I sat up and got a fresh set of clothes out.

"Are you sure it was two pills? Not one?"

"Yeah!"

"Now what?"

"I'm not sure..."

Raiu poked him with the end of the cabin broom. "Dude, I think he's seriously dead."

"Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-HAHAHAHA!" Kumo jumped out of bed; we jumped out of our skins. "It's THAT TIME AGAAAAAAAAIIIINNNNNNN!!!!"

There was a nervous pause, then Arai warily asked, "Time for what?"

"Time.....for......COFFEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE—"

The "eeeeee" faded as I headed for the showers, running a hand through my hair. I was pretty sure nobody else had to deal with insane cabinmates.

Right after breakfast, we went on a hike down some new trail. We had been out for about half an hour when there was a shout of pain. It was the counselor.

She was easing herself into a sitting position, gritting her teeth and trying not to move her ankle as I ran up. "I think I sprained it," she said painfully.

Sakura, who'd been kneeling by her, stood up. "I'll go get help."

"Take a buddy," Hoshi said firmly.

"I'll go with her." If I was right, Sakura had a faster way to go back than they were thinking. Hoshi nodded, and we ran down the trail. Sure enough, as soon as we were out of earshot Sakura released the wand and whacked the Fly card. "Get on."

I obeyed. "How are we gonna hide? The people on the lake are gonna notice something this big flying over the trees."

"We aren't going to be over the trees," she said grimly.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?!"

"This." Sakura took off, headed straight for a tree. 

She swerved at the last minute and we continued flying at breakneck speed as I yelled, "Slow down! We're going to crash!"

"No we aren't! Trust me!" She nearly collided with a beech, then almost flew into another one trying to dodge the first. "It could be worse!"

"How?" I demanded, cringing as we narrowly missed an oak.

"We could be flying near the branches!" The wand dipped as we shot down a hill, and I was thrown forward. "Now, _that_ would be bad! This—" she ducked under a low-hanging branch as we hurtled around a bend and I nearly fell off "—is _nothing!_" She yanked the wand's tip, and we lurched up. _"This_ is a challenge."

"Sakura, DON'T—!"

It was too late. I huddled down, trying to make myself as small as possibly as we flew, wildly weaving through the web of branches. It was actually kind of fun. The wind whipped in my face and stung my eyes as Sakura laughed and turned the wand sideways. For a moment, I was able to forget all the problems with my life and I laughed with her.

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****

Sakura

I blinked with surprise. Had Mr. "This is so pathetic" just _laughed?_ It wasn't like he brayed or anything—in fact, he had a nice laugh—but I'd never heard him laugh before. "You want to go faster?" I shouted back to him.

"No!"

"No?" 

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, you want to go faster? Okay!" I took the wand into full throttle and guided it through the treetops, leaves whipping my face. Grinning, I shook the wand so we bounced.

"Don't DO that!"

"What, this?"

"Yes!"

"Yes, you want me to do it again?" I shook it harder, then noticed we were about to fly headlong into a thick branch. With a twist, I turned the wand so we were flying upside down.

"AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!! _Sakura, this isn't funny!"_

"Sure it is," I replied somberly. "We aren't even that high up! What 's there to be afraid of?"

"_THAT!"_ Li's arm shot past and pointed to a fir tree looming ahead.

"Aw, you're no fun." Seeing we were almost back at camp, I took us as high as possible and said what was probably the last thing Li wanted to hear. "Fly card, return!"

__

"What are you doing?!" He shouted the split second before we started to fall. _"SAKURA!!!!"_

I let us drop for a moment, then used the Windy right before we hit the ground. He glared at me and I smiled innocently back, then broke into laughter and shrank the wand. He shook his head, but the barest of smiles hovered faintly on his lips. "We need to get the nurse. And she'll be coming back with us, so _no_ flying."

"Dang." We hurried to the nurse's office.

She looked up from rummaging through a cupboard as we rushed in. "What's the problem?" 

"Hoshi sprained her ankle on Lake trail 5," I said breathlessly.

"Oh, dear." The nurse thought a minute, then handed us a pair of crutches, a splint, and an Ace bandage. "Take these and go on ahead. You're faster than I am and Hoshi knows how to wrap her own ankle, so it'll cut some time. I'll come in a moment."

I traded glances with Li on our way into the forest. "You know, if she isn't with us, then we can—"

__

"Not fly."

"I wasn't thinking Fly," I said with a grin as we entered the trees. "Ever seen _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon_?"

"Yeah," he replied cautiously.

"Remember the treetop scene? Here, gimme the crutches and I'll shrink them. We don't have to lug these the whole way."

"Okay." He passed them to me and I used the Little card, then tucked them into my pocket. "Yeah, I remember the treetop scene, but why—_NO._ Absolutely not." He blanched.

"Yep! Jump card!" I whacked the card and hooked Li's elbow in mine. "Hold on!"

"NO! SAKURAAAAA!"

I sprang from limb to limb with Li hanging on for his life. After a minute, my arm got tired, so I hit the card again and made it give his feet wings too. "Race you!"

"You're on!" Li shot ahead.

"Hey! No fair!" It was a pretty even match, actually. He was a little faster, but I had actually used the Jump card before. My heart pounded against my ribs as we dashed through the treetops, bounding from branch to branch. I didn't understand why I was as breathless as I was—I was a good runner, so I shouldn't have been this out of breath. My heart shouldn't have been going as fast as it was, too. We hurtled around a bend, neck and neck but on opposite sides of the trail.

It was over all too soon. We came within earshot of the group by accident and had to backtrack. I returned the crutches to their normal size and shrank the wand back to the key, and we jogged up the trail. 

"Wow!"

"You guys are _fast!_"

"The nurse is on her way," I said, kneeling down. "How do I wrap this?"

Hoshi gave me the directions and I did the best I could. When it was tight enough, Li handed her the crutches and she shakily got to her feet just as the nurse came up the trail. She hurried over, medical kit in hand, and examined the splint, all the way firing questions at Hoshi. Could she move her toes? Had it swollen right away? Did any of the bones feel broken to her? Once she'd finished, she declared I'd done a good job with the bandage and that we could go back to camp. Strangely enough, Hoshi was almost as fast on crutches as she was on foot and we still had to work hard to keep up. I found myself wishing for another treetop race with Li.

The rest of the day was fairly normal. Or at least, it was until dinner.

It was almost as if it was meant to happen. It had been a very competitive day in Games, not to mention one that had brewed anger on the girls' part. Some of the boys hadn't been playing nice, and Shinju in particular wanted payback. And of all the dinners to serve that night, they had chosen to serve 'steak' and mashed potatoes. Even the counselors were gone, having decided to eat at the counselor shack. It was destined to happen.

It all started when Shinju was in the middle of a story. She was just getting to the good part when a glob of mashed potatoes hit the table right next to her plate. Another hit her cheek, flung from across the room by Raiu. She snapped. Seizing the bowl of potatoes, she stood. Grabbing a handful, and rolling it into a softball-shaped mass, she hurled it at him. 

Hard. 

It hit him square in the chest and knocked him out of his chair. There was utter silence in the hall.

Then someone stood up and yelled, "FOOD FIGHT!!!!"

Shinju immediately took command. The seating had already been arranged with the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Within a moment she had all our tables on their sides and in a wall, plastic tableware crashing to the ground. We were organized into squads of four, each behind a table. With a bowl of mashed potatoes or some other food for each squad, an organized attack, and twenty or so softball pitchers, we were holding our own.

"Sakura!" Shinju crawled over to me as I ducked a flying piece of 'steak.' "You're fast, agile, you don't lose your head, and you don't mind getting dirty. I need you to gather what the boys are throwing at us." She gestured to the area behind the table wall, where there was a bounty of ammo but much less protection. "It's gonna be hard and you're gonna have to be watching out every second. Are you up to it?"

"Ma'am yes _ma'am,_" I said smartly, saluting her.

She handed me a huge bowl. "If you can, try to draw their fire. The less they have, the better, and you dodge it pretty easy, right?" 

I nodded and tucked the bowl under my arm. "I'm going in."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I waited behind a table for the food fight to end. There was no way I'd join in—after all, Raiu had started it, and he'd been playing dirty in games. One thing I'd learned about Shinju was that you didn't cheat in any game she was in and live for long. Literally. If Raiu was dumb enough to see that and pick a fight with her anyway, it wasn't anybody else's fight and I wasn't going to get involved.

"Hey, look!"

"What's she doing?"

"Get her!"

Chatter broke out to my right and I looked out from behind my table, curious. Sakura was standing a little ways back from the girls' table wall, out in the open and an easy target. I knew she wasn't stupid; what was she up to?

Someone threw a piece of 'steak' at her and she ducked away with ease. Suddenly, everyone was trying to hit her. Globs of food all shot through the air, aimed for her, but she did a series of back handsprings and they didn't even touch her.

"Whoa!"

"How'd she DO that?!"

Rather than being discouraged, they continued their arsenal. She didn't even get a crumb on her, turning cartwheels mockingly across the floor. She straightened, then with a cheery wink, dropped out of site. "Not bad, Sakura," I said under my breath.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I dropped to the ground, laughing. It had been fun to totally shock the boys. With a sigh, I got the bowl and started picking up all the ammo I could get my hands on. Soon, the bowl was full but the supply of ammo was far from depleted. I got another two bowls from Shinju, and Shinrai came to help me. We rapidly filled them and went back for more. This time, Shinju had a command to be passed down with the food: Hold your fire and be ready to throw at her command. We gave each squad the message and more food, then picked up more ammo, which the boys were starting to run out of. As soon as we'd gathered the last and handed it out, we waited for the signal. After a minute the boys started standing up, apparently wondering what was going on. Every one of us crouched behind the tables, hidden from sight and watching Shinju. When they came out from behind their defenses, she flashed three fingers at us, then two, then one, then yelled _"Fire!"_ We stood and hurled all of the food we'd hoarded with deadly accuracy. Seeing Arai was acting as general for their side, I shouted, "Get Arai!" If he was being pelted with mushy rolls, he couldn't command them. Immediately, several girls aimed for him and him alone and he was 'incapacitated.'

"Good thinking, Sakura." Shinju was at my side. "They'll be back up soon. You take command of these five squads." She was gone before I could argue.

I took a deep breath and surveyed the situation. The boys were retreating again and hiding behind the tables. Something occurred to me and I crawled over to Shinrai. "You can read minds sometimes, right?" I hissed in her ear.

"Yeah!"

"Tell me what Arai's plans are. Quote them directly and don't leave anything out."

She closed her eyes in concentration. A moment later, they snapped open and she said, "He's going to copy us because we won't be expecting to taste our own medicine. They'll hold fire and stay behind the tables until we come out."

"Really," I mused. An idea struck me and I grinned. If they were going to hold fire and wait until we were going out, then why shouldn't we just attack them before they got too much? "Shinrai, you're promoted to corporal. Get everyone in the squads ready to charge the boys' defenses. Ask Shinju to have her girls make as much noise to cover us as they can and see if she wants to come with us. And make sure everyone has ammo."

She saluted and crawled swiftly away. Within a moment, Shinju came over and said, "Brilliant idea, commander! I put Tomomi in charge of my squads so I don't have to miss out on the fun." She grabbed a handful of mashed potatoes and rolled it into a softball-sized lump. "They messed with the wrong Cherry Blossoms."

Shinrai returned. "They're ready, commander."

I brought everybody closer. "We go as quietly as possible until I give the signal. Then we charge, and we take down their defenses and surprise 'em. Take their own ammo and use it on them, and when Shinju or I give the command we retreat. Any questions?"

"What's our nickname?" someone asked. "All the military companies have nicknames."

"The Man-haters," Shinju said with a grin.

"The Man_-beaters,"_ Shinrai corrected.

"Yeah!"

"That works. Everybody ready?" At our nods, Shinju motioned to her squads and they started making more noise. We silently filed down and sure enough, the boys were staying behind their defenses. 

Five feet away, I took a deep breath and signaled them to form a line. They obeyed, and I bellowed, _"CHAAAAAAAARGE!"_

We ran up to the tables and yanked the over. One of the boys was a quick thinker; I got hit in the face. Wiping mashed potato away from my eyes, I ground what had once been a roll into the nearest person's face, then scooped up a handful of potato and launched myself at someone.

We hit the ground hard. For a few wild seconds, everything was chaos and confusion as we struggled against each other, rolling over and over until I was dizzy. My opponent had seized my wrists, and my main goal was getting loose. I somehow managed to get my hand free and smeared mashed potato in his hair. 

There was a pause and I looked down into my opponent's startled and all too familiar honey-brown eyes. 

Both of us went numb from shock and I blushed furiously; then Li's eyes rolled up into his head and he passed out. I rolled off him and pulled him to the side, then turned around to find Shinju laughing so hard she was crying. Behind her was Madison--with the camera. 

I blanched. "Oh, _no."_

"Go, Sakura!" Shinju said, wiping tears away and grinning wickedly. "That was pure _genius!"_

"I didn't _try_ to do that," I protested weakly. "I didn't know he was going to faint!"

"Even better," Madison said slyly. Shinju whirled around and threw a piece of 'steak' at Arai, who'd been sneaking up behind her. Or who had _thought_ he was. It hit him on the nose, and a second later more mashed potatoes smacked the side of his head. He dropped.

The battle still raged all around us, but it appeared we were winning. The boys were reluctant to use their full strength on us, because we were _'just girls.' _We used that against them. Shinju went back to our defenses and brought the rest of us to the boys' side to get hand-to-hand. Just when it seemed we were going to get a surrender, the counselors came back , yelled long and hard at us, and made us clean up everything.

We walked back to the cabin, triumphant and filthy. Even _I_ had crumbs down my shirt and potato in my hair. After getting our pajamas, we all went to the showers. This was one place where Madison _wasn't_ bringing her camera.

Even the bathrooms were nice here, although if anyone flushed a toilet while you were in the shower the water got really hot. We had a small bathroom with no shower for our cabin, but these were much nicer. The showers each had a little room attached, along with a shelf on the outside of a door, and there were curtains over every shower door so if someone had to hand you something you wouldn't be embarrassed. I slipped inside one and gratefully took a long, hot shower, washing off all the 'steak' juice and potatoes and crumbs. After drying off, I wrapped the towel around myself and reached a hand out for my clothes. When I didn't feel them on the shelf, I stepped out, confused. 

They were gone.

Looking around, shocked, I saw that Madison's, Shinju's, Shinrai's—everybody's clothes had vanished. There were angry and confused voices further down. I leaned against the wall, stunned.

The boys had taken our clothes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, my. What's going to happen now? Sakura's gotten very pissed very fast, and when she gets mad, bad things happen. The next chapter is so full of S+S it almost makes me sick...so Adiosity until then!


	5. Moonlight Adventures

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Five: Moonlight Adventures

Hello all! You would have laughed your a$$ off if you could have seen the look on my face when I kept getting reviews....every five minutes, I'd hear this "You've got mail" and open it and it'd be another great review! You guys rule sooooo much! Sorry this took me so long to get up, but it's worth it! Sakura, Hell-bi--Mom yells at me "WATCH YOUR MOUTH YOUNG LADY! FOURTEEN-YEAR-OLDS DON'T SAY THOSE DIRTY WORDS!" ummm, heck-female dog.....anyway, she's piss--I mean...um...mad, yeah, mad....and she's ready to kick some a--rear. I had to persuade my imaginary friend to not put her own intro on this; she's got awful grammar. No, I don't own this. 

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****

Sakura

I sagged against the wall, stunned. The boys had taken our clothes.

Anger rose in me. So they thought that was funny, did they? Well, how funny would it be when I walked in and took them back? I was not going to take 'no' for an answer to anything. More importantly, the Key of Clow was with my clothes. I couldn't lose it. Reaching for it with my magic, I found it where I had suspected it would be: in the Wolf cabin. "Everybody stay here," I called. "I'm going to get our clothes back."

"How?" 

"I'll use my womanly influences," I said dryly. Shivering, I strode outside. It was a half-mile walk to the cabin, at twilight, with no shoes on. 

All I was wearing was a towel. My feet seemed to step only on sharp, pointy rocks. I was lucky they didn't get cut up. My hair was still wet, and drops of water kept running down my back. I sneezed. Camp Nadeshiko got cold at night.

__

Really cold. 

I was seriously pissed off now.

Nobody ever really had seen me when I got this angry except for Li, and that had been just once. My feet were killing me, I was chilled to the bone, and I was wearing a towel. Any boy from the Wolf cabin I came across would not live for long.

After an eternity, I reached the cabins. Li was sitting on the steps of his cabin, staring at the lake, but when he saw me his jaw dropped. "Sakura—w-w-what happened?"

"Your cabinmates, that's what," I growled. "Move."

Wide-eyed, he obeyed, and I marched up the stairs and threw the door open with a bang. Twenty or so boys were crammed into the cabin, going through our clothes. 

Raiu grinned at me. "What's wrong, Sakura?"

I gave him an icy glare. "Your mom."

The others whistled. "Ouch!"

Arai stood up and reached out to push me outside. "Go away."

I grabbed his wrist and squeezed hard, tightening my grip until he yelped. "I don't think so." I let go and picked up an armful of clothes, then took it back to the cabin. With some difficulty, I located the Key of Clow and hung it once more around my neck. After changing into a fresh uniform, I went back for the rest. 

Raiu blocked the doorway. "You aren't getting in, princess."

"Oh, really." I raised an eyebrow and elbowed him in the stomach. When he wheezed for breath, hanging onto the doorframe for support, I stepped past. "Feel free to kneel."

Nobody got in my way as I collected the rest of the clothes and went out, slamming the door behind me and going to my cabin without a backward glance. Still seething, I put all the pajamas in a bag and sent a mind-message to Shinrai. _I've got their stuff. Tell them I'm on my way._

How did you get it back? she asked wonderingly.

__

Like I said, I replied grimly, _I used my womanly influences._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I stared after Sakura as she left, her eyes still blazing. Warmth rushed up my face as I remembered what had happened at dinner. 

__

I stood as the girls threw down the table, breaking open our defenses. Something slammed me to the floor and I tried to roll away but my assailant rolled with me. Automatically, I seized her wrists, and we struggled wildly—her to get free, me to hold on. I was starting to get dizzy when she got a hand loose and smashed potatoes into my hair. There was a pause. Two silky strands of hair brushed my face as I got a good look at her and realized it was Sakura.

Sakura was lying on top of me.

With her hand in my hair.

Of course I passed out. How else was I going to respond? I was lucky I didn't get a nosebleed.

My face burned. I realized I still had potatoes in my hair, too, and it would be a cold day in hell when I went to bed with food in my hair. With a sigh, I got some clothes and headed to the showers. Sakura was on her way there too, lugging a sack that I assumed held all the girls' clothes.

She looked back, hearing my footsteps, then turned away. I didn't blame her for being mad—Raiu didn't have a very good definition of a funny joke, and sadly taking the girls' clothes fell under it. I didn't want her to be mad at me, but when she got that angry it was best to give her space, so I stayed down the trail a ways.

I took a quick shower, but even so when I got out everybody had gone. That was okay--most of the time, people would just talk to me and I wasn't in the mood to talk. I started back. The moon bathed everything in a silvery light and I took my time. Sakura came to mind and I sighed. Lately, she'd been in my thoughts almost all of the time. What if my cabinmates had been right and I did like her? What would I do then? I couldn't get attached to a girl—I knew what would happen next. An Yi had taught me that lesson well enough. All these kind of emotions had brought me was pain.

A sharp cry of pain ahead of me broke through my thoughts. I ran down the trail, wondering what was going on. A minute later, its originator came into view. It was Sakura, sitting on the side of the trail and with tears streaking down her face. I kneeled beside her and asked, "What happened?" She pointed to her leg, face taut with pain, and my eyes widened.

What had looked like a dark shadow was really a long, deep gash down her calf, dripping blood onto the ground. "I tripped on something and fell to the side," she said, her voice heavily strained. "My leg got caught on a branch and I'm not sure if I can walk."

"You're not going to," I said grimly. There had to be something I could use as a bandage....Looking down, I saw my shirt. I pulled it off and tied it around her leg as she protested.

"Li, you're going to freeze to death!" Her green eyes were full of concern. "And it's going to get ruined!"

"Yeah, well there's plenty more where it came from," I said distractedly. "Hold still."

"What are you--" she broke off with a squeak as I picked her up. "Li! You don't have to do this!"

I snorted, moving down the path. "It's night and we're in the middle of a forest. You can't defend yourself against a _chipmunk_ with that leg, much less anything _else_ that might come this way. What do you want me to do, put you down and wait 'til it's light out, then come back for what's left? It won't be pretty."

That quieted her. After a moment, she said with regret, "I'm sorry. It's just been a really long week. This was going to be a vacation, and it didn't exactly turn out to be one."

"It's okay." I ducked under a low-hanging branch. "At least the card's gone."

"Yeah." She blinked sleepily, exhaustion making her drowsy, and it didn't take long for her to drift off.

She slept like a little child, her head resting on my shoulder, and from the way I was blushing I knew I wasn't going to be freezing to death any time soon. _God, she's so pretty like this,_ I thought, looking down at her peaceful face. 

__

No! You can't think like this! Remember An Yi?

She sighed in her sleep and I instinctively tightened my arms around her. I never wanted to let her go.

She woke up as we neared the nurse's office for the second time that day. "I'm never going to hear the end of this from the others," she grumbled softly.

"I'm telling you, I can just go and put you back if you want me to."

"Very funny, but no."

We walked into the nurse's office and she rushed over. "Oh my goodness, it's you two again." She took one look at Sakura's leg and bustled off, motioning for me to follow. I carried Sakura down the hall and we found ourselves in a painfully sterile-looking white room. "You can wait outside," the nurse said as soon as I had set Sakura down. "There's spare shirts in the cabinet, so help yourself."

I walked out of the room, feeling the chill now Sakura was gone. Hunting down the cabinet she had mentioned, I pulled another shirt on as there was a yelp from the room. I winced, remembering how much it hurt to get my own cuts cleaned, and sat down wearily. After a few minutes, there was a clatter, a thump, and a yell. I raised my eyebrows but decided it probably wasn't a good time to go in there.

Sakura hobbled out a minute later, a fresh bandage around her leg and a crutch under each arm. "Looks like I'm stuck with these for a few days," she said, waving a crutch. "Fun, huh?"

"Whatever you say." I stood up. "Ready to go back?"

"Yeah," she said wearily. "I really am." She thanked the nurse and we went back out into the night. The moonlight gleamed softly in her hair as we walked back to the cabins. She sighed. "God, what a day."

"You're telling me." For some strange reason, I avoided eye contact with her and stared instead at the sky. "It isn't every day that I re-enact a scene from _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,_ get almost killed multiple times from flying into a tree, and get tackled at dinner." I blushed at the last comment and determinedly continued to look up.

"Yeah, sorry about that. I was just going for anybody who was a good target."

"And _I_ was?"

She laughed ruefully. "Not necessarily. You were just nearby and not running for your life yet."

"I see." I realized we'd reached her cabin and halted.

She clunked up the steps with some difficulty, then turned to face me. "Thanks for everything."

"No problem. Try not to kill yourself while I'm gone."

She stuck her tongue out at me, then smiled. "Good night, Li."

"Good night, Sakura." I turned as she went back inside, and walked back to my cabin.

"Where were you?" Kumo asked.

"Helping someone," I said vaguely, shrugging.

"Who?"

"No one you'd know," I lied.

"In other words, the girl he likes," Arai said with a grin. I ignored him. After all, I wasn't in the mood to lie again. 

__

This isn't good....you can't let yourself get attached to her! You know what'll happen!

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****

Sakura [Back to when she's just given everybody their clothes and they've gone]

"So what are we gonna do for payback?" Madison asked. We were all gathered in a circle, discussing revenge. Everybody instinctively looked at Shinju–she had a knack with this kind of thing.

"Hmmm..." she rubbed her chin. "You guys, are most of the boys showering now?"

"I think so," I replied. **_Yeah, they are,_ **I sent to her. I'd used magic to check.

"You know, it's an awful shame that the water pressure in the bathrooms is so bad," she said innocently. "I mean, one toilet flushed and someone's shower will turn red hot!"

We stared at her. "Shinju, you're a genius." Madison grinned slowly.

"Any questions?" She asked. No one spoke up. "Then everybody get a toilet!"

We all stood at the porcelain thrones, a hand on the handle. "On the count of three," I called. "One, two, THREE!" I pushed down hard on the lever.

__

FLUSH!

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!"

"Score!"

I started back to the cabin as soon as everybody had been taken care of and had gone. Looking up at the stars, I thought about the first thing that came to my mind: Li. Why was he being nicer to me? What was it that was making my heart pound when he looked over in my direction? And the most important of all: had he really given me mouth-to-mouth? I shivered at the thought of his lips on mine.

Blushing, I continued down the trail. Maybe, just maybe, I...it couldn't be true, could it? I didn't even want to think about what would happen if my cabinmates knew. Could I actually like Li? 

Suddenly, I tripped over something. I frantically tried to catch my balance, but the result was that I plunged headlong into the bushes at the side of the trail. Searing pain raced along my leg, and I let out a sharp cry. A fallen branch, hidden in the ivy, had ripped a caught me. Dragging myself into the open, I saw the long gash down my leg. Tears of pain started running down my face as it _really_ started throbbing. I tried to hold them, wondering how on earth I was going to get back to the cabin now. Standing, I tested a little weight on it. It buckled painfully under me and I fell hopelessly with another thump. Unless someone came by soon, I was essentially screwed.

"What happened?" Like a miracle, I looked up and saw Li kneeling by my side. I mutely pointed, too surprised to say anything.

__

Oh my god, he's looking at my leg. At that thought, I decided I could talk. Pain made the wound burn like fire as I explained tensely, "I tripped on something and fell to the side. My leg got caught on a branch and I'm not sure if I can walk."

"You're not going to," he replied. I was wondering what that meant when he pulled off his shirt and tied it around the slash. My heart started beating faster, but I ignored it.

"Li, you're going to freeze to death!" If it had been chilly when I'd had to walk back in a towel, it was icy now. And besides, I wasn't sure how I would handle myself if he kept his shirt off. "And it's going to get ruined!"

"Yeah, well there's plenty more where it came from. Hold still."

"What are you—" He picked me up and I yelped, blushing harder. "Li! You don't have to do this!" The frantic beating of my heart was ringing in my ears. 

Li was carrying me. _Li_ was carrying me. Li was _carrying_ me. And through a forest. At night. With his shirt off. 

I thought I was going to pass out.

"It's night and we're in the middle of a forest. You can't defend yourself against a _chipmunk_ with that leg, much less anything _else_ that might come this way. What do you want me to do, put you down and wait 'til it's light out, then come back for what's left? It won't be pretty."

That shut me up. I wasn't really in a position to argue about who was doing what for me when and where, even if it was Li. _Whatever happened to a restful, fun break from these kinds of 'adventures'?_ "I'm sorry... It's just been a really long week. This was going to be a vacation, and it didn't exactly turn out to be one."

"It's okay." Our faces came dangerously close as he ducked under a branch, but he didn't seem to notice. "At least the card's gone."

"Yeah..." My eyelids felt as though they'd been weighted. I blinked a few times, but it didn't help. _I'll just rest them for a minute..._

When I woke up, I was wondering why the pillows had gotten warm but so hard. Opening my eyes, I remembered where I was and blushed. "I'm _never_ going to hear the end of this from the others," I muttered, trying to mask my humiliation.

"I'm telling you, I can just go and put you back if you want me too."

"Very funny, but no." He carried me into the nurse's office and she rushed over, exclaimed something, and motioned for Li to follow her. We went into a room that was a bleached white and he set me down as the nurse told him to wait outside. He left as I watched the nurse warily, studying her every move.

__

Any sudden movements and I'll...I'll** crawl** out of here, I thought at her. 

She didn't seem to notice, bustling around the room and getting a large, brown bottle that I did not like the looks of, in addition to more cloth than I thought was needed and an odd-looking instrument thing.

__

Oh, god, she isn't going to amputate my leg, is she? There was a buzzing sound, and I nearly screamed. It was only the bug zapper outside the window. I glared balefully at it, then turned back and found the nurse right in front of me. _OMIGOD!_ I bit back a yelp of shock.

It was a very, very, very good thing that she recommended I think about something else while she cleaned the cut. A _very_ good thing, because otherwise, bad things would have happened and there would have been no _more_ nurse's office. Instead, I determinedly thought about other things—mainly Li—and gritted my teeth.

As soon as it was bandaged, she handed me a pair of crutches and said, "You'll need to use these for a couple days."

I took them and stupidly hopped off the table. My leg buckled under me and I collapsed in what must have been a strange-looking tangle of limb and crutch. She had me practice a little more before letting me outside; I didn't blame her.

I hobbled outside, where Li was waiting. "Looks like I'm stuck with these for a few days. Fun, huh?"

"Whatever you say." He stood, and I was semi-grateful to see he was wearing a shirt once more. Otherwise, I'm not sure what would have happened, but I suspect I would have had a nosebleed. "Ready to go?"

"Yeah, I really am." I thanked the nurse and we left. It was only a little way from the nurse's office to my cabin, which was good. "God, what a day," I sighed.

"You're telling me." Li was looking at the sky, the starlight soft in his hair. "It isn't every day I re-enact a scene from _Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,_ get almost killed multiple times from flying into a tree, and get tackled at dinner."

I turned a bright crimson, glad for the darkness. "Yeah, sorry about that. I was just going for anybody who was a good target."

"And _I_ was?"

I laughed nervously. "Not necessarily. You just were nearby and not running for your life yet."

"I see." He didn't say anything as I clambered up the steps to my cabin.

"Thanks for everything." I meant every word—he'd been almost freakishly kind.

"No problem. Try not to kill yourself while I'm gone."

I stuck my tongue out at him impishly, then found myself smiling like an idiot. "Goodnight, Li."

"Goodnight, Sakura." He turned and walked away as I hurried into the cabin, still slightly flushed—and not from the cold.

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****

3rd Person

"Hey, guys." Madison walked into the cabin and looked around. "Where's Sakura?"

"I don't know," Shinrai said, looking up from her book. "She was going to make sure everyone got their stuff, then leave, but she should have been back by now."

"I'll go check on her," Shinju offered, standing.

"Me too." Madison slung her camera bag over her shoulder. "I want to get some footage for scene-separators."

"I'm coming with, then." Shinrai closed her book and slipped on a pair of sandals, and they left. 

"I wonder what she's doing," Shinju whispered when they were halfway there. "Maybe—" She broke off, hearing voices ahead.

"What is—" Madison stopped also, then switched her camera on. They crept up the trail and hid behind trees.

"I tripped over something and fell to the side," a familiar voice said, thick with pain. Madison's eyes widened and she made sure her camera was on. "My leg got caught on a branch and I'm not sure I can walk."

"You're not going to." At that, Shinju's jaw dropped and she peered out, still hidden in the shadows. [AN: This is actually pretty realistic, because at camp my cabin and another were playing capture the flag, and me and another guard were wearing dark clothes, and we hid in the shadows of these really big fir trees. Two counselors came out and they were talking and the girl said "I don't want to talk about the size of your ____" You know what I'm talking about? Part of the male anatomy? Well, we had to let them see us so we wouldn't hear anything ELSE we didn't want to hear, so we....shone our flashlights in their faces. Go on, tell me I'm not evil. You can't, can you? Anyway, the point of this is that if you're wearing dark clothes and you're in the shadows at night you're virtually invisible.] Sure enough, Li was pulling off his t-shirt and wrapping it around Sakura's bloody leg as she blushed, protesting, and Shinrai stifled a giggle. Shinju was barely holding back howls of laughter at the look on Sakura's face.

__

This is **fabulous,** Madison thought, her eyes going all starry. _It's like a **romance** novel!_ Her eyes popped as Li picked the startled Sakura up and carried her down the trail. As soon as Sakura's voice had faded, they came out of hiding.

"Did you see how red her face got when he took his shirt off?" Shinju asked gleefully. "I was cracking up so hard!"

"Guess what?" Madison patted the side of her camera. "It's all in here."

__

"Genius, Madison. _Pure _genius."

"So now what do we do?" Shinrai asked.

"We follow them!"

They raced down the trail, moving as quietly as possible. Madison darted nimbly through the underbrush and somehow got ahead of them, then turned for a close-up. Both were blushing and decidedly not looking at each other.

They stealthily trailed them the whole way, then waited outside the nurse's office. Shinju snorted quietly when Sakura came out bearing crutches and a rueful look, followed by Li. _This is actually really cute,_ she thought. _They'd make a really good couple if either of them would make the first move._ She grinned suddenly and sent a mind-message to her sister. **_You know, Shinrai, I think I've got an idea._**

What is it?

It involves those two, but I'll tell you later. She silently jumped out of the bush, as did Madison and Shinrai, and they went after what Shinju thought determinedly of as not the 'would-be' couple but the 'WILL-be' couple. _Will-be because I said so._

Sakura clattered up the steps and she and Li talked a little more. Then there was a pause, and Madison couldn't help thinking, _Go on! Kiss her goodnight, you idiot!_ Instead, they said their good-byes and walked away.

Shinrai smacked her forehead. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"What, Brain? Is it time to take over the world?" Shinju asked sarcastically. [AN: You know, the cartoon _Pinky and the Brain? _No? I'm a failure....T_T] "Actually, yes. We DEFINITELY need to get those two together." She narrowed her eyes, then shuddered. "I'll need to talk with Arai on this."

"I'm sorry, man." Shinrai patted her back comfortingly. "I feel your pain."

"Just think how _happy _they'll be, though." Madison lowered her camera. "Let's go inside."

"Yeah." Shinrai shivered. "It's too cold out here."

Shinju followed, staring at the stars. _This just might be a lot of fun..._

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****

Sakura

I looked up as Madison and the twins came into the cabin. There was no yell, or sugar-high yellow stuffed animal flying in their face because once the card had been captured, Kero had gone back. It was a relief. "Where were you?"

"Where were you? Shinju demanded in return. "_We_ were getting a midnight snack. Were you making out with someone or something? And what the hell happened to your leg?"

"I—uh—got hurt," I stammered. Then I realized what she'd said before that. _"EW! NO! _Like I said, I got hurt! I just tripped!"

"And?" Madison prompted. "Where were you then? How'd you get to the nurse's office to get it bandaged if you need crutches to walk?"

"I was on my way back," I growled, my face rapidly turning red. "And someone helped me, okay?"

"Who?"

"Was it a guy?"

"_NO ONE!"_ I yelled, a brilliant scarlet. "No one carried me–" I broke off and clapped a hand over my mouth.

"Someone carried her? I'm the only girl who's strong enough to pick you up." Shinju crossed her arms and grinned. "So it was a guy." I threw a pillow at her and she dodged it with ease, adding thoughtfully, "She likes him, too."

"I do_ not _like Li!" My eyes widened and I buried my face in the only remaining pillow. "Dear god. I truly,_ truly _suck at lying."

"So....you've got a crush on the guy who's repeatedly referred to you as weak, hopeless, and pathetic?" Shinju asked wryly. I responded with a glare I'd learned from him; the one that usually knocked birds out of the sky and made grown men whimper in fear. Of course, to Shinju it was like throwing a pebble at an armored car. "Just checking," she said innocently, backing away with her arms raised.

I sighed and changed into my pajamas, then got awkwardly into bed. The lights were shut off a few minutes later, but for some reason I couldn't sleep. I sat up, then slouched over the windowsill by my bed, folded my arms, and rested my chin on them. The full moon was oddly comforting as I stared at the lake. My eyelids gained that familiar lead-weighted feeling, but this time I didn't fight it.

__

I was flying with someone–but was it really flying? Their arms were wrapped tightly around me, but wind also blew all around us, and in a moment I was free from their hold and flying higher and higher into the sky. 

Higher....

Higher....

Higher....

Then I was free of the Earth and rocketing through space, running without any chains to hold me back. The stars were my stepping-stones as I dashed along them, wild and untamed. This was the side of me that no one saw—the one that longed for clear, cool nights to roam the paths of the forests, to be cut loose from all of the ties of my life and run forever, like I was doing now. I slowed, realizing that something was missing. A minute later, it came, and I raced whatever it was. We were always going higher.... A pair of wings blossomed from my back and I soared through the galaxies, a shadowy figure at my side. It was odd, how people always took shadowy to mean evil; this shadow was good. It was like an indigo shadow—it wasn't evil at all, but it looked similar and so many people hated and feared it. The indigo shadow was at my side, but then pointed down at something and I saw we were back at Earth once more. Something soft and warm brushed my lips as I plummeted to earth like a shooting star, and I sighed as it pulled away. There was no bump as I landed near my cabin and walked down to the lake, where Li was sitting on a rock. 

I shivered and sat next to him. "Is it time?"

"No, not yet." 

I turned away to look at the lake too. 

"What's wrong?" 

I turned, startled, and saw a girl from another cabin holding a teddy bear. "They'll blame it all on you, you know."

"What?"

"Look around you." 

I obeyed, and saw to my horror everything had been covered in waterweeds. Not just any waterweeds, but brown-greens, rotting, thorny waterweeds. A large, weed-covered bump was moving at my feet. Nervously, I peeled away some of the weeds to find it was a human. 

"You can't do that." The little girl's face was changing, shifting, along with her voice. "You can't play if you don't play by the rules." 

I ignored her and tore off the weeds. The lump grew bigger, then split into three more shapes. I freed the first person, not even looking to see who it was, and moved on to the second. A pair of terrified, gray-green eyes stared out at me through a gap. "Shinrai?!" I ripped the plants away and she was mostly free when then they started crawling up my own arms and tangling in my hair. I tried to claw them away, but they stayed. Someone was pulling off strands, but they were twining around my neck and choking me. I thrashed against them, horror and revulsion filling me. My arms ached...my leg twinged.... and I was falling, falling, falling—

And I landed on the cabin floor with a thump, intertwined in blankets. I'd had a nightmare and fallen out of bed, and my leg throbbed in protest. I eased myself back up quietly, disentangling myself from the sheets; the night was far from passed, the sky still dark. _What a freaky dream...._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I stared at the ceiling, wide awake. _Why is it that **I** always get insomnia?_ I wondered idly. The lake was glass smooth, the wind creating hardly a ruffle as it slid over the water. With a sigh, I silently slipped out the window. Maybe a short walk would help.

The moonlight bleached everything into shades of silver and white as I walked silently. Stars shone overhead, their constellations far away, and the breeze stirred a few branches into rustling their leaves. There was no real path I had in mind; instead, I went where my feet took me.

And as a result, I ended up at Sakura's window.

I hadn't even intended to go near her cabin. I'd just wandered aimlessly, then found myself face to face with her.

She had fallen asleep looking at the lake. Her face was peaceful and silver in the moon's glow, a few strands of hair falling across her cheek and waving slightly in the wind. Her lips were slightly parted, her breath soft. I was drawn to her like a moth to a candle flame, despite my mind's screaming in protest. _NO! You can't DO this! You know what happened the last time you let yourself get attached to someone!_

Oh, **shut up**, another part of me said. I leaned closer to her and our lips met in a gentle kiss. She sighed as I pulled away, my face burning. 

__

Oh my god. My mind was in a state of shock. _I just kissed **Sakura.**_

I thought I was going to pass out.

Part of me felt guilty, but another argued that she'd never know, and so it wouldn't matter to her any way. Another also reminded me, though, that it had felt so right...I went back to the cabin, fully appreciate that neither Kero nor Tori had seen.

__

Jeez.... I wanted to do it again.

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Alright! Go Li! Puttin' the moves on Sakura, even though she's asleep! ^_^' Sorry....hey, thank you ALL again for reviewing this fic and/or just taking the time to read it. Any questions, comments, flames, hate mails, bomb threats, etc. will be replied to if you send them to me at jadefire35@aol.com. ALL e-mails are welcome, no matter what it says, and I'll do my best to get you a reply as soon as I can. Maybe even within 24 hours! *_*

Anyway, I've still got more than one chapter to go....in fact, I've got four. Hehe....better get started. More coming soon--plus the sequel to Shin no Chikara in August, just not sure when.....it's handwritten, but I need to type it, and it's a LOT darker than Shin no Chikara, but it's still cool! Adiosity!


	6. Cabinmates from Hell

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Six: Cabinmates from Hell

Alright, this chapter is up! Thank you EVERYBODY for your wonderful reviews! Everyone is so nice.I feel bad when I don't get chapters up fast enough! And now I'm on a guilt trip. Why? Well, I just saw the Final Judgement episodes, even if they were Nelvana's versions. If you've seen them, you'll know why I feel bad. If you haven't, it's because Li gets totally beaten up by Yue. In front of Sakura. Ouch. AND I DIDN'T KNOW!!!! T_T Now I feel awful! And then, at the end when the judgement's over and him and Sakura are doing that spinny-thing where they hold hands and go in a circle SHE DROPS HIM. _ At least he gives her this totally kawaii look anyway. And it's SOOOOOO CUTE when he's freaking out. I still feel bad that I'm always so mean to him.but it doesn't mean I'm going to stop. ^_^' I think Nelvana's definitely pushing a Li-Sakura relationship (which brings up the point of why the hell they didn't do the same with Julian, but we'll ignore that). Editing galore, but I think I can survive as long as they end up together. If they edit that out there will be HELL TO PAY and I'M NOT KIDDING. Anyway, you want me to start the chapter, no? I owe much of the inspiration for this chapter to Tamora Pierce, the wonderful author of so may good books--Squire, in particular. It's where I got most of the ideas for the stuff here.

I own diddly-squat; deal with it.

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****

Shinju/3rd person

"Arai." The tall, dark-haired boy turned to face a scowling girl behind him. Her dark blonde hair had broken out of its ponytail in several places, falling over guarded gray-green eyes as she added, "A word with you."

"What do you want, Shinju?" he snapped. "You won the war, you got revenge on us for the camera, you nearly boiled me to death, and I'm not interested in any lectures."

"Neither am I," she replied, her voice even but with a chilly undertone. "You deserved everything you got, but that isn't what I want to talk about."

"Then what _do_ you want to talk about?" He asked, gray eyes cloudy.

Shinju merely cocked an eyebrow and jerked her head at the back of the craft shack, then strode there.

He sighed and followed her. When they were out of earshot from their group, he asked, "What is it?"

She scowled at the ground, resentment clear on her features. "I need your help."

"With what?"

She looked up, surprised. She'd been expecting a refusal; no matter. Glancing pointedly at where the rest of the group was seated, she said lowly, "Sakura and Li have been acting.odd."

"No, lovestruck." He crossed his arms. "That's what you mean, isn't it?"

"Yeah. How long've you known?"

"Fourth day," he said smugly. "With the mouth-to-mouth."

"Same here. In case you didn't notice, neither of them is going to admit it any time soon." Shinju grinned. "That's where I—and possibly you—come in."

"I see." Arai rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You want me to help get those two together?"

"Pretty much. Let's face it: we're both creative, and if we work together we could get the little lovebirds hitched." When he didn't comment, she added grudgingly, "I'm willing to hear your price."

"Price?" He laughed. "As tempting as it is, I don't have a price. This sounds like funalthough, I do have _one_ mandatory request, if you know what I mean."

"I do. What is it?" She dreaded his answer.

"That we're under a truce, but only until they're together."

She grinned fiercely, showing far too many teeth for his comfort. "Oh, trust me, I wouldn't want it any other way." They shook hands.

Arai cracked a knuckle. "So, where do we start?"

"Well, as I see it, desperate times call for desperate measures," she said wickedly. "And nothing causes desperation like jealousy."

"Very true," Arai mused. "Where to beginwhere to begin"

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****

Sakura

"Don't think of what's going on the page," Uta, the Arts and Crafts counselor, said sternly. "Just draw. Let your feelings go."

I closed my eyes, trying to obey. _Don't think about what's on the paperwhat about something else?_ I tried to keep my mind clear.

"Draw from your emotions," she advised. "Let your mind go and draw from your heart."

My heart? The pencil wandered aimlessly across the page. What was in my heart?

Unbidden, unruly brown hair sprang into my mind's eye, accompanied by warm honey-colored eyes, strong arms, and broad shoulders. I blushed and opened my eyes. Looking down, I gasped, reddened, and flipped over my paper as fast as I could. I'd drawn Li's face.

What was going on? What was wrong with me? _Get a hold of yourself, Sakura!_

____

Lucky for me, I could ride Moonchaser, even with my bad leg. It still ached dully, but that didn't keep me out of the saddle; I was _not_ going to miss out on a day of riding. I just had to leave my crutches behind.

We returned about fifteen minutes early, so instead of dismissing us to our cabins Yorokobi declared we would have an informal racing competition. Shinju was first on Osore, her fiery-red mare who looked like a hell-horse. She was up against Kumo and his piebald mount, Bounce. Shinju won, and Arai and I were next. There was a pause as we waited for Yorokobi to drop the handkerchief, our signal to go. Then it left her hand and we took off in a cloud of dust. Moonchaser was much faster than his horse, and we beat them by a long shot. Shinrai lost to Li, and Madison won against Raiu, despite the fact that she had been recording the whole time. Li beat Shinju narrowly, and I beat Madison, and then it was down to the two of us. 

"Let's make it a little more interesting for this one," Yorokobi said casually. "This time, go to where the road ends and back. And stay only on the road."

It was only about seven feet wide. We'd be so close together our knees would practically be touching.

I steered Moonchaser to the Start/Finish line and Li drew up alongside me. Shadow, his dark brown gelding, was barely even tired, like Moonchaser. It was like day and night, side by side, as we waited tensely, silver beside brown so dark as to be black.

Then the handkerchief slowly fell.

She took off like a rocket. Li was a dark blur on my left, the end of the road a distant point that drew steadily nearer. The hoofbeats matched the pounding of my heart as dust blew in my face, gritty and warm. There was no sound but the thud of the hooves and my breath, harsh and ragged from the dust coating my throat. 

We reached the end of the road.

I wheeled Moonchaser around, feeling her excitement like it was my own, and we thundered back down the path, neck and neck. Shadow matched her strides. I glanced up at Li. His hair blew wildly around his face as I blushed and turned back to the road. The finish line drew nearer and nearer, and neither of us was winning. I pulled a little ahead, but Shadow caught up, and for a minute there was a struggle for the leadand we crossed the line at the same time, tying.

I slowed Moonchaser to a trot, then a walk, and rode her in circles around the paddock to cool her off, as did Li. "Shadow's _fast,_" I commented.

"Yeah, same with Moonchaser. Remember when she took off because Kumo knocked over those buckets?"

"Do I ever," I laughed. "That was downright freaky." Moonchaser snorted, as though in agreement. "And you, horse, need to face your fears," I said with mock-sternness. Deciding it was time to dismount, I steered her over to the fence and slid out of the saddle, perching on the top bar of the fence and being careful not to use my bad leg. Looking down, I realized I wouldn't be able to get down after all. "Crap." I'd have to figure out another way to become earth-bound once more.

"Hold on." Li dismounted and walked over, then gently lifted me down. I landed lightly, then looked up to find our faces dangerously close. I froze, not sure what to do but not wanting to move all the same. 

"Hey, Li!" Raiu yelled. [AN: DAMN!] "Come help me with Storm!"

He released me, then handed me my crutches. I breathlessly watched him stride off, Shadow at his side, with a sigh. Moonchaser nudged my shoulder, whickering, and lipped my hood. Putting a halter and lead rope on her, I led her away. "Come on, you rascal."

____

At lunch, we avoided another food fight, but it was a near thing. I was gnawing on what tasted like a rubber hamburger when Midori stood up on a table. "Hey, everybody!" The noise softened to a dull roar, and she continued. "Since Hoshi sprained her ankle, Yukimi's taking over hiking, and in her place we'd like you to welcome Tori Avalon." My brother stood up and scanned the crowd as I hid behind Shinju, stunned.

"Your brother?" she asked sympathetically.

"Yeah," I muttered. "He hates Li, mainly because Li set him on fire."

"That would do it." Shinju's voice was nonchalant. "You look _nothing_ like him, you know."

"No kidding," I sighed. This was definitely not good.

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3rd Person

"So what's the deal?" Kumo asked.

"And what's _she_ doing here?" Raiu crossed his arms over his chest.

Shinju sighed. Raiu would _not_ be very cooperative, she suspected, unless there was some 'persuasion' done but she kept her opinion to herself.

Arai scowled at him. "We decided to nudge Li and Sakura along. There's a truce and it lasts until they're together, so no picking fights or you'll have _me_ to deal with."

"And me." She shot Raiu and Kumo the most potent of her glares. None of you take Li as a partner in _anything,_ capish? Or _we_ won't be happy. And if they're together and alone, leave 'em that way."

"What if we're not interested I your little love games?" Raiu sneered.

She strode over, seized the front of his shirt, and yanked hard until his face was a few inches from hers and his feet were a few inches off the floor. "Then you're gonna _GET_ interested, and fast. Is that clear?" He nodded emphatically. "Good." She dropped him and he fell with a thud. "Next time, remember you're shorter than me."

"You've got your orders," Arai said blandly. "Don't get in their way or Shinju and I will not be pleased." He cracked a knuckle. "And you may be asked to assist us. Any complaints, and you'll wish you'd never been born." He grinned, lessening the tension. "On a lighter note, this looks like it could be a lot of fun. You may enjoy it. Any final words, Shinju?"

"None." She turned on her heel and strode out the door, then paused and looked over her shoulder. "But if I think of any, I'll let you know."

Arai watched her as she walked out. _She isn't half bad._

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****

Li

I dove into the lake, ignoring the bite of cold and trying to get as deep down as possible. The floor here wasn't that far down, but muddy and covered in plants. I was one of the few people who could stay down there for more than a few seconds, and I liked it.

Something glinted in the corner of my eye. I swam over and took a closer look. It was a fine chain, buried in the mud. Tarnish had formed over it from being underwater so long, but I tugged at it nonetheless. It didn't come free and I was running out of air, so I surfaced, then dove back down again. This time, I worked it loose and brought it up, swimming away from the water clouded by the disrupted mud. Wading back to shore, I got a better look at it. It was silver--heavily tarnished and old, but still beautiful. A heavy, heart-shaped pendant the size of my thumbnail was strung on it. There was some kind of hinge, and I saw a thin crack, but I couldn't pry it open.

The crunch of crutches grating against sand told me I was not alone. "What is it?" Sakura asked, sitting next to me. She'd had to stay out of the water because her leg was still healing.

I passed the necklace to her. "I found it in the lake."

She frowned, then ran a slender finger along the side. Slipping a fingernail into the hair-thin line around the edge, she forced it open.

There was a waterlogged, blurry picture inside, along with a name engraved on the lid. I couldn't read it, but Sakura brought it closer to her eyes and squinted at it. "Nad.Amami—" She broke off, paling. "Li.it's my mother's." Wordlessly funning a fingertip over the intricate cover, she sighed. Unshed tears shone in her eyes.

"It's yours."

Startled, she turned to me. "I can't take this! _You_ found it!"

I could see how much she wanted it, her fingers tangling in the silver chain. "It belonged to your mother. I think she'd want you to have it if she was here, and I'm not going to argue with that." [AN: See, I figure that since no one ever tells Li that Sakura's mom was gone, he doesn't know. He thinks she's lost a family member or something, but he doesn't know she's dead.]

"I." She blinked and swallowed hard, then threw her arms around me. My face turned about ten various shades of red as she said, "Thank you, Li."

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Sakura

I flopped down on my bed with a small container of silver polish and a rag. I was going to take as much care of my locket as I could—it meant a lot to me for two reasons. One was obviously because it had been my mother's. The other was because Li had given it to me.

Dinner that night had passed normally, due to the presence of the counselors, and I had an hour until campfire. Reminding myself of that, I scrubbed away at the locket with renewed vigor. The tarnish came off with a little elbow grease and I was scraping off a last spot when Madison came in, waving a thick packet. "Pictures!"

"Of what?" Shinrai looked up from the book she'd had her nose in.

"Us! I took some of the frames from the videos and made them into pictures, and they came out great!"

"I want to see!" Shinju took the proffered photo and laughed. "You got a shot of the potato war! Sakura, you gotta see this!" I looked at it and saw it was me in the middle of tackling Li. 

"THAT NEVER LEAVES THIS CABIN!" I snatched it. "I'm burning this."

"I'll just make more." Madison handed me the stack. "I've still got the negatives. Take any you want."

I sullenly leafed through the pictures, hoping to find one to put in the locket—the original one was ruined and I needed to replace it.

I stopped at one of Li. Madison had managed to catch him smiling, which was pretty rare. 

"Yeah, I thought you might want more of that, so I made a few copies." Madison shoved more photos in my face. "There's wallet size, too."

I blushed a bright scarlet. _"Madison!"_

"Well, if you don't want them, I could just throw them away"

"No! I want them, okay?" I was half-embarrassed, half-grateful.

"Thought so." She dropped them into my lap as I gave the rest of the photos back.

There was one no bigger than my thumbnail—the perfect size for my locket. Shy, I tucked it snugly into the silver heart, then snapped it shut quickly and slipped the chain over my head. My mother's locketwith Li's picture insideit was perfect. If only he felt the same way I didI stared out at the lake. A thin shiver ran up my spine as I remembered the two times I'd nearly drowned myself. Li had been there for me—he always was.

"Hey guys, it's time for Campfire." Shinju hopped off her bunk and put on her sneakers as I did the same. "Wear a sweatshirt or something, cuz it gets really cold."

I know," I said ruefully, pulling on a light green hoodie. "I had to walk back from the showers in a towel, remember?"

"Yeah. Hey, where'd you get that?" She pointed to the locket.

"This? Li gave—I mean, Li found it in the lake, and it was my mom's, so he let me keep it."

"Li gave you a locket?" Madison asked, grinning widely.

"It was my mom's!"

"And that's the _only _reason?"

"Yes!" I stopped on the porch and waited for the others to come out, hissing, "We're _FRIENDS."_

"Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiight.friends." I ignored her, and we set off.

"Good evening, pearl of my heart," Arai said smoothly, walking out of his cabin as we walked past and taking my hand. "The stars do not even come close to rivaling your beauty."

"Pearl of your _what?!_" I choked.

"The _what_ don't even come close to whatever?!" Li asked, drawing alongside Arai and glaring fiercely at him.

"Pearl of my heart, dove," Arai said sappily, paying no attention to Li. "Your eyes call to mind pine trees, waving majestically in the wind over a lake as pure as your soul."

"Uh" I withdrew my hand and turned to Li. "Is he drunk?"

"He better be," he muttered.

"I am merely intoxicated by love," Arai sighed. "The sight of your face is sweeter than the sweetest wine, and I am led to desire nothing more than to gaze upon it for all eternity, O fairest of fair, star among stars."

"I don't think she's interested," Li growled at the same time that I said under my breath, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Come on, Sakura! Let's go get seats!" Shinrai hooked her elbow in mine and dragged me away.

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****

3rd Person

Shinju struggled not to crack up, watching Arai 'hit on' Sakura. _This is rich,_ she thought gleefully. _And Li's buying it!_

Sure enough, he was glowering at Arai with such venom that she was surprised his hair hadn't turned to snakes and Arai hadn't turned to stone. 

Yet. 

__

The boy's a genius.

"I don't think she's interested," Li growled.

"I think I'm going to be sick," Sakura muttered.

"Come on, Sakura! Let's go get seats!" Shinrai pulled Sakura away and Li, Kumo, and Raiu followed. They vanished into the woods, headed to Campfire.

Shinju and Arai waited until they were out of earshot, then burst into laughter and high-fived. "Sweeterthan sweetest wine?" she gasped, wiping away a tear of laughter. "I just about threw up!"

"Hey, it's your turn next," he reminded her with an evil grin."

A gleam came into her eye. "I know."

"Will Sakura remember you hated him at first?"

"If she does, I'll BS something up." She snickered. "We should be getting Academy Awards for this, you know."

"Yeah, what a shame. The best acting jobs known to man, and we'll never get any credit." He offered an elbow to her. "Shall we go, queen of queens?"

She scowled but took it. "Save the romantic crap for Sakura. It's wasted on me."

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Sakura

I limped down to the giant clearing where Campfire was held and sat down on a log. A bonfire roared in the center, casting a reddish-orange glow on everything. Shinrai sat on my other side, and Madison took the last space on the log.

Li sat down on the log next to ours and Shinju plunked herself right next to him. Her gray-green eyes were strangely dreamy, and as I watched, she intertwined her arm with his. He looked down, startled, as Arai sat on his other side, trapping him. 

She leaned up and whispered something in his ear and he gave her a strange look. My mind automatically jumped to the worst possible conclusion and my eyes narrowed jealously. Then I heard her low, breathy voice all too clearly. "Do you mind if I.sit here?" My vision started turning red as she slowly traced a circle on his chest. "You know, I think dark hair is very, very, very sexy." A strange, choking noise emerged from the depths of my vocal chords. She continued, playing with a lock of his hair. "Mmm.looks just like chocolate. Mind if I try some?" 

I couldn't take it any more and stood up. Walking over, I asked, "Anyone want to go for s'mores?"

"YES." Li tried to stand up, but Shinju still had a death grip on his arm. After a moment, she stood up too. 

"Of courseWe'll go together" I gritted my teeth as she followed us down to the roaring flames and for a second or more I was more than tempted to push her in; especially when she started rubbing a hand over his chest. Biting back inhuman fury, I got us all roasting sticks and marshmallows and passed them out. "I think the fire's almost as hot as you are," she said in his ear.

I went to stand on the other side of the fire.

Thrusting the white sugar puff into the flames, I watched it shrivel up, fantasizing it was Shinju. That helped. I went back and got another.

This time, I nearly laughed, spearing the marshmallow viciously on the blackened stick. _If only marshmallows could scream,_ I thought with grim, sadistic humor. _And they sounded like** her.** Then it'd be **perfect.**_ I smiled, watching most of the second marshmallow bubble, then blacken and drip off, becoming a charred ruin on a flaming log.

"Hey, are you okay?" Someone asked to my right, peering into my face. "Your eye was just sorta twitchin', all weird and psychotic."

"No, no, I'm fine!" I laughed in a strangled, high-pitched voice. "One-hundred-percent _spifferriffic! _Absolutely OKEY-DOKEY!"

The girl gave me a strange look, but shrugged and went back to messily devouring her s'more.

I threw my stick in the fire. My stomach wouldn't be able to hand any more sugar right now, verbal or not. Swallowing nausea, I made my way back to the log. _Even Mei Lin had decency. And morals. And modesty,_ I thought sullenly. _Shinju obviously doesn't have any._

____

"Okay, everybody! Back to the cabins!" I picked up my crutches and limped out of there as fast as I could, not wanting to have to sit through another minute of Shinju hitting on Li.

The trail opened onto the beach. I angrily hobbled down the stretch of sand, ignoring the voices far behind me. My crutch hit a rock and I tumbled to the ground in a tangled knot of metal, plastic, and limb. 

Cursing softly, I looked around. Nobody else was in sight, so I'd have to free myself. With a crunch of sand I sat up and dusted myself off, then pried my ankle out of the space in one crutch and untangled my arm from the other. After a few tries and more than a few muttered obscenities, I managed to get to my feet and set off down the beach once more, on my way to the nurse's office. The bandage had to be changed and my cut cleaned again. It wasn't often that I was in this bad of a mood.

I was still in one of the sourest moods I'd ever been in when I left, my leg stinging and freshly rebound. With a sigh, I clanked back to my cabin. The lonely moonlight bounced off my crutches and disappeared into the shadows. The only time Id been out this late and walking this way had been the previous night, and Li had been with me. My grip went white-knuckled at that name. _What does Shinju think she's doing, crawling all over him like that? He's mine!_

Or is he? another voice asked in my head. _What if he likes her? What will you do then?_

I hopelessly walked back into the cabin and changed right into my pajamas, then got into bed. I wasn't in the mood to talk—me, tired and cranky, was not the best of conversationalists. 

The locket gleamed softly, and I quietly popped it open. Warm eyes smiled at me, and I smiled back, even though he couldn't see. Shutting it with a click, I dropped the silver heart and the chain around my neck pulled taut, weighed down. I wasn't going to take it off.

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****

3rd person

Shinju and Arai watched as both Sakura and Li bolted away from the clearing. "Brilliant performance," Arai said wickedly. "_'Mind if I try some,' _indeed. Did you see the look on Sakura's face? And what did you tell him before that?"

"Oh, for his sake I said it was a bet. No, I didn't." 

"She looked ready to kill." He laughed. "And Sakura, ready to kill, is not a pretty sight."

"So I'd gather. And now you—" she stabbed a finger at his chest "—have to top that. I made a total jackass of myself and most likely have made Sakura really angry with me; it's your turn."

"Wasn't it enough before?" At the shake of her head, he groaned. "Great. More of Arai, lovesick sop coming upif you think Sakura in a bad mood is scary, you've never seen Li before he's had a chance to wake up. Now _that_ is downright inhumane."

She shuddered. "Dear god. I don't even want to think about that."

"So what else are you going to do to Li tomorrow?" he asked.

"I'm not sureI'm thinking about asking him repeatedly if he wants to take me somewhere. Of course, only in front of Sakura. How about you?"

"More names, and I'm considering writing bad poetry to her and practicing it in front of Li."

"Perfect." Shinju grinned. "If that doesn't make 'em desperate, I don't know what will. What about getting them alone?"

"Hmmm" Arai rubbed his chin. "What've we got tomorrow?"

"Fencing, horses, crafts, and swimming."

"No goodwait, how about the free time? We could send them both to the dining hall at the same time for a snack, or something like that."

"That'll work. And Sakura ought to start swimming again on Tuesday, so we can have some fun with that." Shinju found with an odd touch of regret that they had reached his cabin. "See ya later."

"See ya." He vanished inside and she headed to hers, bracing herself for Sakura's wrath.

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Sakura

I looked down nervously at Arai, who was kneeling and holding my hand like a medieval knight. "Sunshine of my soul, how can I extol your beauty? Your smile is brighter than the full moon, your eyes like twin emeralds, your hair like autumn leavesI wrote a poem to you last night! Do you want to hear it?"

"No, I don't think she does." Li crossed his arms and glared at him. I used the diversion to pull my hand free with difficulty.

Unfazed, he pulled a piece of paper out and unfolded it grandly, then read,

__

"The stars are pretty in the sky,

The trees are really green

It all pales compared to you

Whenever it's you I see."

"What?" I shook my head, walking away. "I don't get it."

"Yeah," Li said, walking alongside me. "Neither do I."

"What the _hell_ is going on?" I wondered aloud.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, your cabinmate's got a thing for me, my cabinmate has a thing for you, and it's _really_ starting to get on my nerves!"

"Actually, Shinju had a bet with someone that she wouldn't do that last night. Or at least, that's what she said." He shuddered. "I still didn't like it."

I nearly cried out of relief. Not only had it been a bet, but he didn't like her! There was a God! "I know how you feel, only as far as I know Arai doesn't gamble." Suddenly, realizing I couldn't hear any voices behind us, I turned and found our cabinmates nowhere in sight. "Hey, where'd everybody go?"

"What?" Li looked over his shoulder. "Maybe they.went back for something."

"Well, we might as well wait for them," I sighed, sitting on a stump nearby. I didn't actually want to wait for Arai, but they were probably with everyone else, so we waited. It was just the two of us on the trail, but I didn't mind one bit. _Tell him,_ something inside of me urged. _Tell him you like him._ Inwardly shuddering, I realized this was starting to sound like something from a badly written book. Here we were, alone in the woods, and my mind was saying I should confess to Li that I had a crush on him. The only difference between my reality and yet another predictable story was that in the story Li would be harboring deep, passionate love for me as well, and in the deep, passionate climax we would wind up confessing our deep, passionate love for each other—deeply and passionately—and then it would end with a sappy makeout scene. If my life were that story, the only problem I'd have would be that it would be predictable. I sighed, my eyelids drooping. I'd had that creepy dream again, and it was starting to bother me.

A girl of about eight came down the path, a troubled expression clouding her features. Seeing us, she asked, "Have you seen my teddy bear anywhere? He's brown and he has a blue bow around his neck" I shook my head sympathetically and she said, "Okay. Well, thanks anyway."

I checked my watch. Fifteen minutes had passed, and at this rate we were going to be late for crafts if we waited much longer. "Why don't we just go on ahead?" I suggested. "I mean, I don't think they'll be coming back any time soon, and I don't want to wait that long."

"Neither do I." Li stood up too, and we continued down the trail. I didn't need my crutches anymore—the cut was healing fast, thanks to my magic, although the nurse just thought I was a fast healer. Really fast. "Where do you think they went?"

He shrugged. "For all I know, Kumo broke his leg and they had to carry him back."

I laughed at that. I could picture that happening, and it was a funny image. "So.what was life like for you before you moved here?"

He glanced at me, surprised. A shadow crossed his face and he said, "I'd rather not talk about it. What about you? What was it like before you opened the book?"

I blinked and thought about that for a minute. "Well, pretty normal. I had cheerleading practice some afternoons, and I always slept in no matter what. My day life hasn't changed all that much. It's nights for me that are totally different—every time something funny happens, I end up riding a funny-looking wand with wings three hundred feet up over my hometown, wearing an even funnier-looking outfit. And I nearly get killed by a magicked piece of paper gone postal."

"On the plus side, it makes life more interesting."

"True," I conceded, laughing. We came out of the woods and found ourselves in front of the craft shed. 

Where our cabinmates were waiting.

"Good timing," Raiu said. "You just made it."

After recovering from the initial shock, I demanded astringently, "Where _were_ you?"

"We had to go back for Madison's camera," Shinju said innocently. "We told you, but you didn't follow and we didn't notice until it was too late to go back."

"We waited for you!"

"We didn't want to be late, so we took a shortcut," Shinrai said, her eyes wide and blank. "Like she said, we told you, but you must not have heard."

"You didn't tell us! I would have noticed!" I protested.

Madison smiled The Smile. The Smile was the smirk that I hated. The Smile meant she was going to say or do something that she knew I was not going to like. The Smile meant that the fragile walls of my dignity were about to come crashing down. The Smile meant I was about to be incredibly embarrassed. The Smile was pure, unadulterated evil. "Love works in mysterious ways, I guess."

I was torn between dying of mortification and killing her on the spot.

____

Exhausted, I climbed into bed. It was late, and I was more than ready to go to sleep. "G'night, everybody."

"G'night, Sakura."

"'Night."

"Goodnight."

The lights went out. I rolled over with a sigh, tangling my fingers in the locket chain. The little girl had never found her teddy bear, and I felt bad for her. I didn't know what I'd do if I lost something that meant as much to me as the bear had obviously meant to her, like the locket. My eyes watered as I traced a flower on the delicately engraved lid and remembered my mother. Nobody knew that I actually had more than a few memories of her. Soon after that, I fell asleep.

____

__

I got up out of my bed at home and walked down the hall, three years old once more. Voices echoed softly up the stairs, one female. The carpet tickled the bottoms of my feet as I bounced down the stairs. There she was, sitting at the table while Daddy made breakfast.

Mommy.

"Good morning, Sakura!" She turned and gave me her sweet, bright smile. I was about to hug her when she paled and started shaking. The coffee cup in her hand crashed to the floor, its contents splashing onto the floor as the ceramic mug shattered. A fat, near-boiling drop landed on the palm of my hand, burning like fire, but all I could do was watch as she slumped over the table, white and still. Daddy rushed to her side as Tori ran out of his bedroom. My hand ached dully, yet I didn't care. The world was crashing down, falling all around me and breaking apart just like the mug. Something was wrong with my mommy. 

The flashback ended, and I was in a world of dark blue and white mist. A figure emerged, her long, wavy hair floating in a nonexistent breeze. "Hello, Sakura."

"Mommy?" I whispered. "What's going on?"

"I came to talk to you, Sakura."

"Why?" 

"Two reasons. One is to tell you that something is after you, and you must be always on your guard. Second, I came to talk to you because something has happened at this camp. You've fallen in love." My cheeks burned, but I said nothing and she continued. "You have to tell him, Sakura."

"What?! But—why?"

"Because if you do not, you will never be truly happy. You **must** tell him."

"Does he feel the same way?"

"It is not my place to say."

"But"

"You must tell him by the end of the week, or you'll lose him. Forever."

I gasped, then swallowed. "I'll do it.I **will** tell him."

She smiled gently. "Good girl. I see you found my locket."

I blushed, nodding. "Yeahhe gave it to me."

"It has its uses, you'll see." A shadow crossed her features, and she said sadly, "I have to go, Sakura."

"Wait!" I ran u to her as she faded away. "No! Come back! Mommy, come back!"

Then I was returned to the flashback. 

People were gathering around my mother, putting her on a stretcher and hooking machines into her. Finally, they took her outside and put her in the ambulance outside. It sped away, Mommy inside.

I knew she'd never come back.

In real life, I had stood in the middle of the street until Tori had carried me inside the house. Now, I ran after the ambulance, ran after my mother. I couldn't let her go, or I'd never see her again. I ran as fast as I could, the pavement oddly smooth under my feet, but the van faded into the distance. My mommy was gone forever.

****

You forgot her, a voice accused in my head. **You forgot your own mother.** My voice didn't work as it continued. **You don't care about her. You don't remember her at all.**

"I **do!**" I whispered. "I** do** remember her!"

****

No you don't. You'll never see her again. She hates you now, because you forgot her.

"NO!" My eyes flew open, and I gasped. Not only was I glowing like I'd stood near a microwave _way_ too long, but I was standing on water. More accurately, on the middle of the lake. For a minute, I couldn't remember what I had just dreamed about.

**__**

You've forgotten her, forever.

I choked, and tears started running down my face. The locket was floating in front of me, shining like a miniature star brought to earth. 

__

"It has its uses, you'll see"So that was what she had meant. I trembled, then realized the magic in the locket would probably wear out soon enough and I would be going for a swim in the middle of the lake, which was not what I needed. Still crying, I made my way back to shore with a white disk of power under my feet, keeping me afloat. Walking on the water, all I wanted to do was fall to my hands and knees and cry until I couldn't cry any more, but I knew I had to get to the beach, even though I was virtually blinded by tears.

My hand stung a little. I opened my palm, to find the rough circle of lighter skin that had faded with time was now red and puffy again. I could see the coffee cup smashing on the rug, smell the smells. I would never, ever forget that morning, but it only made me feel worse. I shivered, bitterly cold, tears running off my chin and splashing on my bare arms. The shorts and tank top I'd worn to bed did very little to cut the chill, and if it had been cold the night before, it was freezing out on the lake.

Then my feet were on dry sand. I made it a few steps, then started to fall to my knees, nearly screaming in emotional pain and sobs racking my entire body.

__

"Sakura!" Something caught me gently on the way down, then helped me sit. All I knew was that someone warm was holding me tightly.

__

"I remember her!" I insisted. "I still remember her! I didn't forget her, I swear I didn't!"

"I know you didn't," a voice said comfortingly over my head. "I believe you, Sakura." My mind barely registered the fact that it was Li, and it ignored that as I continued to weep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I sat bolt upright, a cold sweat breaking out on my face as I jerked out of a dreamless sleep. A strange magic was suddenly flaring in a nearby cabin—Sakura's cabin. Leaning out the window, I saw a girl emerge from the Cherry Blossom Cabin. Something white glowed at her neck, radiating strong protection magic. Really strong—when the girl nearly walked into a small boulder, the power flared and the stone rolled away. Suddenly, she broke into a run, and I saw the bandage on her leg; it was Sakura. She was sleepwalking.

When she reached the edge of the lake, instead of diverting her path, the locket flared and a white circle of magic opened under her feet and she ran _on_ the water. I gaped and jumped out the window, unsure how long the locket's power would last. She'd stopped in her tracks by the time I got to the shore. After a minute, she turned and started coming back, her eyes wide and unseeing, her face streaked with tears. The heart-shaped pendant hovered in front of her, glowing white. _Good thing she has that,_ I thought fervently, shuddering. _Otherwise she would have ran straight into the lake._

Both of her feet touched the sand; she got a few steps and then crumpled. _"Sakura!"_ I ran and caught her as she shook, crying harder than I'd ever seen her cry. Worry and consternation ran through me as she fell to her knees and I knelt beside her, my arms circling her protectively.

__

"I remember her!" she whispered, her voice ragged. "I still remember her! I didn't forget her, I swear I didn't!"

"I know you didn't," I said, trying to comfort her. "I believe you, Sakura." She continued to cry on my shoulder, shaking. It was a shock to see her like this—wretched and anguished, in such a contrast to the normally playful and cheery girl everyone knew. I was scared of what it was that could do that to her, of all people. Scared and infuriated. I wanted to track whatever it was down and make it go through exactly what she was going through, only about thirty times worse. Sakura was a strong person, but even strong people had their weaknesses. Someone important to her was gone, I guessed. It was a woman, because she'd said she remembered _her;_ as far as I knew she hadn't had any sisters, and that left her mother. I'd wondered why the locket meant so much to her; now I knew.

Something made me look up. An angel was standing over Sakura, a concerned look on her face. Her long, dove-gray hair floated lightly around her and familiar evergreen eyes gazed sadly at Sakura's weeping form. **_Hello, Li._**

I swallowed. **_HelloNadeshiko._**

**__**

You're wondering why you can see me; it's because you know now.

I realized we were in a time freeze. **_What happened to Sakura?_**

There's something in the lake that knows she's here. All I'm allowed to say is that it's very old and bitter, not to mention powerful, and it's got a grudge against Sakura. You will need to figure the rest out on your own.

I nodded. **_What was her dream about?_**

The spirit made her relive the day I passed away. She has too good of a memory—it's been with her since then. She used to have nightmares about it before she unleashed the cards, but told no one. And she isn't the only one with secrets, Li.

I flinched, knowing exactly what she was talking about, and my chest hurt. **_What do want me to _do?_ Tell her about An Yi?_**

Pretty much. If you keep walls around your heart, nothing can get in—or out. You need to tell her how you feel, and about An Yi.

Color rushed to my face. **_ButI don't know how she feelsCan you tell me?_**

She shook her head, dark hair drifting in an immaterial wind. **_It is not my place to say. But if you don't tell her by the end of the week, you will lose all hope._**

Hope of what?

She shook her head again and started to fade away. **_We will talk again, Li. Tell Sakura I know she hasn't forgotten me._** Time started again, and Sakura trembled in my arms once more. I held her tighter, thinking how it ironic it was that we had both lost a parent at a young age. The only difference was that I hadn't known my father very well; he'd been far too busy running the clan to pay attention to me that much. Still, the few memories I had of him were good ones, and I missed him.

"Sakura?" I asked tentatively, not wanting to scare her. "Sakura, I think she knows you didn't forget her. I _know_ she knows."

"Really?" She asked after a minute, her face still shiny with tears. "How?" 

"I—I'll tell you later. Just trust me, she knows you haven't forgotten."

"I trust you," she whispered, eyelids fluttering. She was exhausted. After a moment, she had nodded off. 

I leaned back on a rock, unwilling to wake her up by taking her back. My arms were still wrapped tightly around her as I glared out at the lake. **_Don't you EVER do this to her again,_** I thought fiercely at it.

My eyes widened in shock when it responded. **_I do as I please, little wolf. This night has been _nothing_ compared to what I can—and will—do to her._**

You can't touch her! I yelled mentally. **_Stay away from her! What did she do to_ you?**

There was no reply. That made up my mind—I was definitely not leaving Sakura alone tonight. My eyelids felt like they'd been weighted down with lead, and despite my struggles otherwise I soon fell asleep too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura

I woke up slightly sometime around two in the morning. Finding myself next to something warm, I yawned, decided not to move, and snuggled closer, wrapping my arms around whatever it was.

Sunrise heralded my return to consciousness by shining directly into my face. I blinked crossly, then realized my pillow was moving. _Pillows don't move,_ I thought, frowning in confusion. Sitting up, I realized I had been cuddled up next to Li and my pillow' had been his chest. I rapidly turned about twenty various shades of brilliant red, very glad he wasn't awake yet. Remembering what I'd said the night before, my face got even hotter. "_I trust you"_ It was true; I believed in him.

More of my dream and last night came back to me. He had said she knew I hadn't forgotten her, so the voice was wrongbut what about when I had been talking with her? That had seemed more real than anything else _"You've fallen in love"_ That was certainly true enough. I looked at Li while he still slept. A few sable locks of hair fell over his brow, his features mostly emotionless but for the slight downward tilt of his eyebrows and a tiny, worried frown on his lips. What was he dreaming of? The frown deepened, and a minute later he sat bolt upright with a sharp intake of breath.

"What's wrong?" I blurted out.

He jumped, then saw me and relaxed, running a hand through his hair and blinking in the dawn light. "Nothing, just one of _those_ dreams."

I shuddered. "Tell me about it."

He frowned, concerned. "Are you all right? Last night, you wereupset."

I shut my eyes momentarily, wincing at the pain that dream had caused. "More than upsetthanks for being there for me, Li. But—how—did you know—what was wrong?"

He paused, seemingly struggling for words. "Right after you came off the lake, your mothershe came and talked to me. She wasn't a ghost—believe me, she wasn't a ghost, and she told me there's something out there that did that to you."

"What do you mean? Something _gave_ me that dream?!" Somehow, it didn't scare me that he had talked to my mother. Later, I realized it was for two reasons: I'd talked to her myself, so I knew she wasn't a ghost; and it had been Li who had talked to her too. Something about the fact that he had seen her also was strangely comforting.

"Yeah. There's a spirit in the lake—"

"A GHOST?" I squeaked. Just because I knew my mother wasn't a ghost didn't mean I still wasn't scared stiff of them.

"No, like the spirit of the woman in Hong Kong," he corrected. "She said it's old and it's got a grudge against you for some reason, but she wouldn't tell me why and I don't have a clue either."

"Same here." I stared at the rippling, silvery waters, apprehensive. "I'll just have to find out somehow."

__

"We'll have to find out." Li looked stolidly ahead. "I'm in on this too."

"Butbut you could be hurt! This thing is really dangerous!" I didn't want him involved, if it meant he'd be in danger.

"Call it an apology," he said blandly.

"For what?" I asked, confused.

"For being such a jackass when I got here. And in Readington." He swallowed. "There was something going on at home right before I left, and I took it out on you."

"What was it?" I asked tentatively, hastily adding, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want, I'll understand."

"No" He rubbed his forehead wearily. "You deserve to know. Did Mei Lin.ever tell you about someone named—"he paused, seemingly unsure of what to say. "Did she ever tell you about someone namedAn Yi?"

"No," I replied honestly. "She didn't."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

"We used to be engaged," I said with difficulty. This particular memory I'd kept away from for the past few years; it was too painful to think about. "It was an arranged marriage, like with Mei Lin, and I—" my face flushed "I got attached to her. She didn't view it the same way." That ugly scene came back to me, all the colors, smells, sounds vivid in my mind.

____

__

I was twelve again. An Yi and I were walking through one of the gardens together. It was the third time we'd met. I should have been warned by her sullen silence and dark, burning eyes as we strolled down the path, but I was a fool. Ever the fool, ever incredibly naïve; yet even I could tell something was wrong. "What's the matter?"

That was when she turned on me. 

"You, that's what's the matter!" She snapped, her eyes flashing like twin bolts of black lightning. "Where the hell did they get the idea that I **want** to marry you?" At my stunned silence, she continued ranting. "I wish I'd never been born! No—wait, I wish **you'd** never been born!" She started to storm away, but right before she had reached a bend in the path, she turned, a fierce, honest scowl marring her sharply delicate features. "I hate you, Showron!"

That in itself had been painful enough. I wasn't sure whether she meant it and—even more foolishly—kept telling myself she didn't. Matters got worse when she was found with another boy. 

The engagement was broken off. At that point, I was starting to close myself off from the world. I was in too much pain to think about anything else; then I found out about the Clow Cards. And then I was sent to Readington.

That was a godsend, although I didn't know it. I needed to get out of Hong Kong and my mother had seen that, so she told me to pack up my things and go help the Cardcaptor.

When I got to Readington, I thought the Cardcaptor would be some dumb girl who had no clue about the forces she was messing with. I misinterpreted my directions and thought I was to bring back the Cards. Consequently, I walked into the classroom with the idea that I would tell the girl to give me the Cards and she'd be clueless enough to do it. After all, she had to be dumb. She'd let out the Clow Cards, so that had to mean she was stupid. I thought I would be dealing with a naïve, immature, silly girly-girl.

Instead, I got Sakura.

From the moment I'd seen her I knew things were not going to go according to my plan. In fact, my first thought at seeing her had not been a welcome one. **My god, she's got the greenest eyes I've ever seen.** And then I'd been an idiot and tried to force her into giving me the Cards. I'd never seen eyes like hers—not that shade of green, and so expressive. In the Clan, everyone always guarded their emotions. You could never, ever tell what they were feeling, unless you'd been with them for twenty years or so. But with Sakura, you could normally tell what exactly she was thinking. Her eyes showed everything. When she was scared, they were a lukewarm shade. When she was angry, they got hotter than fire. And when she was really, really angry, they got ice cold. If she was that angry I usually got out of her way.

When I'd tried to take the Cards, her eyes had been slightly cold, but then when I literally tried to take them, they unnerved me to no extent and it was only my Clan training that kept it from showing. 

And I'd known from the minute I'd laid eyes on her that she was meant to be the Card Mistress. Of course, I wasn't going to accept that at first. I didn't trust anyone, especially after An Yi. To me, she signified what would happen if I let myself get infatuated with anyone ever again; or trusted them, for that matter.

____

"She—she kicked me down, pretty much, and it was hard on me. I got sent to Readington right after that, and I was still" I trailed off. Sakura knew the rest. My elbows rested on my knees as I waited, apprehensive, for her reaction; there was no way I was going to look at her unless something was brutally attacking her. Which, fortunately, wasn't happening.

There was silence from her for a moment, and then she hugged me. I needed it—that was the first time I'd ever told someone the truth behind my past, and it hadn't been easy. I was still surprised, though, and I awkwardly hugged her back because I thought that after the night she'd had she needed it too. It was strange, both being comforted and comforting someone else at the same time. 

"Jeez" she said softly. "I had no idea, Li."

"Yeah, I know how you feel." My voice was full of rue. "Until last night, I didn't know about your mother."

"You didn't?" she asked, sitting up.

"Nope."

"So we each had our painful little secrets," she sighed. "Dang it, now I'm depressed."

Her face was caught in a comic, mournful expression. I couldn't help but laugh.

"What?" she demanded in mock offense.

"Nothing!" I held up my hands in a gesture of innocence.

"No, really!"

__

"Nothing!" I insisted, a grin roguishly forcing its was onto my face at the fierce scowl she was twisting her features into.

"Oh, so you won't confess, eh?" A gleam I didn't like came into her eye. "I have ways of fixing thatdo the words mashed potatoes' carry any meaning for you, hmmm?"

I blushed. "Now that's not funny!"

"I wasn't joking! Now what was it that was so funny, tough guy?"

"I'm not saying!"

She shrugged semi-innocently. "Have it your way." The sudden impact as she tackled me threw me down on my side, the loose sand spraying away from where I was being flattened into the ground.

"You've _really_ got to stop doing that," I muttered, face in the sand. "I'm going to end up breaking something."

"Good idea!" Sakura raised my arms, which she'd twisted behind my back, closer to her face and appeared to examine my wrists. "Which one first, right or left?"

I smirked. "Neither." I flipped over, yanking my arms out of her not-so-tight grip, and pinned her to the ground.

"Oh, so that's how you want it, huh?" She squirmed free somehow and tackled me again.

"So _that's_ where you two are," a familiar voice called. Madison was standing on the porch of Sakura's cabin—with the machine of Satan in hand.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

"Jeez, you guys," Shinrai said from a window. "What are you doing down there?"

Shinju's head popped up beside her. "I think they were making out!"

"WHAT?!" Li and I yelled at the same time. It didn't help our case that at the moment I had one knee in the sand, the other somewhere around his stomach, a hand around his wrist, a fist steadying me on the beach, and my face a few bare inches from his. Heat flooded my cheeks, and I tumbled off to the side.

"Aw, don't deny it." Arai leaned on the doorframe to his cabin. "We know you were down there playing tonsil hockey."

"No!" I shouted. "Weboth decided to go for walks! It was a COINCIDENCE!"

"Keep it coming, Pinocchio." Shinju grinned wickedly. "I always thought your nose was too small anyway."

"Dirty-minded freaks," I growled, rolling my eyes. "I think I'm going back to bed."

"Yeah, me too." Li got up and offered me a hand. I took it and he helped me to my feet, sand draining out of every fold in my pajamas.

"Oh, now they're holding hands!'

I dropped his hand, blushing, and gave him a quick hug. "Thanks for everything, Li." I ran away, my face scarlet, but very glad I'd gotten to hug him twice in one day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that's it! That's chapter six! It's done! Finite! Four more chapters to go, although I can guarantee they WILL be shorter than this one. -_-; hehe interesting things happen in the eighth chapter (the one after the next one) a quote from it is "May I remind you that a minute ago you were ramming your tongues down eachother's throats?" Of course, I won't say who's talking to whom.although there is a unique' pairing in the end. Sorry this took so long to get up, it takes a while to type these things up you know! And there's a lot of improv! Anyway, I should have the next chap up soon, so until then Adiosity, peace, and luv!


	7. Who Are You?

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Seven: Who Are You?

Yola to all! It's actually 10:34 p.m. on Thursday, August 2 right now, and I'm getting kinda tired.it's a lot harder typing on a laptop than it is on a regular keyboard.but yet I continue for the sake of my readers::starts discoing as people run away screaming:: I WILL SURVIVE! I WILL SURVIVE! Yeah! Getting jiggy wit it! Dig that funk! Oh yeah!

.

Sorry, my alter ego took over there for a minute. Any way, ready for the next chapter? ::ducks as tomatoes and other various veggies get thrown at her:: WELL IT ISN'T THAT BAD, IS IT? I mean, I try! And I don't even own these characters or even this series, so give me some credit!

Oh yeah, I'm thinking of actually writing a book that is based loosely on the second chapter. Seriously. It'll be called "When CPR Just Doesn't Work" and it'll be about what happens when a girl has to give mouth-to-mouth to a guy she really doesn't like. Her jackass boyfriend breaks up with her, the creepy guy gets a crush on her, her cabinmates tease her, and she just tries to suffer through the rest of camp and manage to attract the attention of that certain someone.not her old BF and most certainly not a counselor. Who knows, maybe it'll be a guy who's a jerk to her at first, like Li. -_-; How creative

Like I said, I don't own anything in this fic. Sad, but true.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sakura

I dove into the lake, the chilly water cooling off my skin. I wasn't afraid of actually _being_ in the lake. After all, the Spirit hadn't physically attacked me yet, and I didn't think it would try to drown me like the Control Card. My leg had fully healed, thanks to my magic, and to the astonishment of the nurse there wasn't even a scar. I just told her that I'd always been a fast healer.

The plants waved eerily, silver fish darting through the strands. Most of the green fronds were actually kind of pretty in a way, but a few were not. The dark weeds looked oddly familiar, although I couldn't think of why. Swimming over them, I went deeper into the lake. The sunlight bounced off the water as I broke the surface, gulped in air, and went back down.

Not many people were out this far. I watched the schools of fish shoot away from my shadow, smiling. 

**__**

You like those? A smooth, but ice-cold voice asked in my head. **_How about _them_ apples?_** My eyes widened as the darker weeds whipped out at me. I dodged, then found myself face-to-face with a woman with long, dirty gray hair. A crown of weeds ringed her forehead, seeming almost more like a chain than a coronet. Her eyes were little more than dark pits in her forehead, her graying flesh falling away from the exposed bone of her face. 

I screamed in horror and revulsion and tried to get away. Sharp, cold fingers locked around my ankle as I kicked frantically, running out of air fast. **_LET ME GO!_**

I think not, the voice said. **_You took him from me once, but now you won't ever again._** The weeds lashed out and tangled around my ankles and wrists, binding me to the spot.

**__**

Who?! I screamed mentally, my lungs on fire from lack of air. **_I didn't take anyone from anybody!_**

Liar! The weeds tightened painfully as I tried to claw them away. My fingers slipped on the oily stems, unable to get a good grip on them. I thrashed wildly, my vision starting to fade. My eyes were squeezed shut, but when I forced one open, the woman was in front of me again. I gasped in shock and choked on the water that rushed down my throat. She drew away as I hacked out what little air had been left in my lungs. If only I could get to the surface

A silver blade swung through the woman, and she melted away. I looked dully up at its wielder as he sliced through the thick stems and they dissolved. Li returned his sword, then helped me to the surface. As soon as I'd stopped coughing, he said, "I don't want you out this far again."

I started to protest, then subsided. He had a point. Shaking wet hair out of my eyes, I said, "At least I got a clue—she said I took someone from her."

"She did?" He frowned. "I don't like the sound of that I'll check the local legends when we get free time. Maybe Arai knows something."

"I'll check with Shinrai too. If anyone's obsessed with folklore, it's her."

He nodded, then grinned. "Race you back to shore."

"You're on!"

When I got the time to ask Shinrai if she knew any local legends, she surprisingly said she didn't. "But I'm looking them up. If I see any about the lake, I'll let you know."

It was the same with Arai. Li and I were back to the drawing board.

I stared at the lake, my shadow long in the sunset. **_Why do you hate me?_** I called. **_Why are you doing this to me?_** There was no response. The waters were turned an orange-red in the dying sunset, looking as innocent as ever; I knew they weren't.

That night, I dreamed I was standing on the beach. Everything was covered in weeds again. This time, I hacked away at them with the Sword Card, but the more I slashed away, the more that came in their place. Some got around my wrists. I tried to sever the thick, slimy stems, but the blade slipped and bit deep into my forearm. I dropped with a cry of pain. Crimson soaked into the sand as more weeds twined around me.

"You will never take him again," the icy voice said. I turned to see a tall, willowy woman standing a few feet away. Her blue-gray eyes stared accusingly into mine, as cold and hard as stone. She wore an old, tattered kimono, and a crown of weeds wound around her forehead. "You took him, and he's gone now."

"Help me!" I screamed as more plants tangled in my hair. "I didn't take anyone! Please—help me—or my friends, let them go!" If they weren't freed from their shrouds of waterweed, they'd suffocate

"Friends? Or slaves under your spell?" She asked coldly. "Are you going to take them like you took _him_ from me?"

"I didn't take anyone! Please—_let them go!"_ I pleaded desperately. "Let me go! I've—I've got to help them!"

"Liar! Give him back!"

"Who?!" I screamed. _"Who ARE you?!" _

I sat bolt upright, gasping. My shirt was soaked in cold sweat. **_Who are you?_** I yelled to the lake, furious and scared. **_Why are you doing this to me?_** I wasn't expecting a response.

**__**

You took what I treasured most, witch! the voice snarled, terrifying me. **_You know that as well as I do! Now I'm making you pay, and there's nothing you can do about it!_** Her presence left my mind and I was left alone, shivering in the dark.

__

I want to go home, I thought suddenly. _I really just want to get away from this whole mess._ The locket seemed to shimmer a comforting pearly white, and I sighed. After an encounter like that, there was no way I was going to fall asleep. 

Something seemed to urge me to confront the Spirit. My mind grew drowsy as I thought what a good idea that wasin fact; I should go do it right now. I slipped out the window, then went to the beach. It was dangerous, but I wanted to settle this. If I fought her now, then Li wouldn't get involved too. He couldn't be hurt this way. 

**__**

What do you want? I yelled. **_Face me like a woman!_** There was no response, so I decided to aggravate her further. **_Coward! Are you afraid of me? Is that why you won't talk to me? Or are you too weak to do anything more than make a few plants move?_**

That was very stupid of me.

Later, I realized that the Spirit had put a spell on me, and, due to my half-consciousness, I had been yelling mentally loud enough to wake the whole camp up if they picked up on that kind of thing. In fact, that occurred to me right after I'd yelled.' Right then, though, I was more concerned with the fact that a demon of water was chasing me down the beach. "Windy!" I struck the Card, but it only passed through the monster. I ran faster, then used the Fly Card and launched into the air over the lake.

That was a very big mistake.

As I watched, the waters swirled together, then spun into a funnel and leapt after me. I headed into the forest and flew through the trees. It was much harder in the dark, and the water merely split into multiple shoots and darted through the branches, just as fast as I was going. Seeing it was useless, I pulled up the wand and flew straight up. The funnels followed me, then knocked me off. The wand fell out of my reach, and I plummeted towards the bare, rocky lake floor. _So this is what it feels like to be a skydiver,_ I thought absently. I was going to die. 

**__**

This is what you call weak, hmm? the voice sneered. **_You're going to die from my weakness,' witch._**

I was too terrified to respond as the ground loomed closer and closer. There was a better chance of me getting nominated president than surviving a fall like this. I was going so fast, it felt like I'd been shot out of a cannon. There was a particularly sharp-looking rock where I thought I'd be landing. I didn't think it was coincidence. Maybe I would only break my back, so I'd be paralyzed and when the water filled the lake again I'd drown, unable to move. The Spirit would like that.

The ground was only fifty feet away.

Forty.

Twenty.

Ten.

"Wind!" A gust of wind wrapped around me, then brought me back to shore as the waters returned to the lake and settled once more—the Spirit was done with me for now. "What do you think you're_ doing?"_ Li growled through clenched teeth, grabbing me by the shoulders and shaking me. His hands were warm but locked tightly on my bare shoulders—I was wearing a tank top. "You could have been killed!" I still couldn't speak, so he continued, looking really pissed off and punctuating each sentence with a teeth-rattling shake. "If you want to die, why don't you just play chicken on the railroad tracks? Or join some nice Californian cult or something?"

"That isn't funny," I grumbled.

"Well, neither is trying to beat that thing on your own! What the _hell_ were you thinking?!"

"What it was _making_ me think," I retorted. To tell the truth, I wanted to continue arguing with him because that way he wouldn't let me go and I didn't want him to. "It wasn't really my choice."

"Well, if it does it again, don't go after it on your own—or fight it—or _something!_ Don't just go along, or you're going to end up_ dead!"_

"I know that! I was half-asleep! Sorry, but _I_ drink decaf!" I scowled back at him, although in reality I didn't feel like scowling at all. _He looks so cute when he's mad!_ "I was having that damn dream again, and when I woke up it made me challenge it! It's not like I walked up to the lake and said, Hey, I'm ready for you to kill me now'!"

"I know, I know" He sighed and let me go as I mentally cursed. "Just don't do it again, okay?"

"I'm not planning on it," I said wearily. "I've had enough fun for one night." Realizing how wrong that sounded, I quickly added, "I-I-I'm going back. G'night."

"Try not to get killed." He walked back to his cabin.

I ignored that, climbing in through the window. Usually he didn't get so worked up when something like this happened, but tonight he seemed almost—almost scared. But why? Life for me was steadily getting more and more confusingand it didn't help when I found everyone else awake.

"Jeez, Sakura," Shinju grumbled, a surly expression on her face. "Why'd you do that?"

"The Spirit-thingy in the lake made me," I retorted. "And I just got a lecture on the dangers of being under the spell it put on me, so don't you start."

"Oh, she knows about _that_ already," Madison said innocently. "It's on tape, after all."

"WHAT?!" I squawked. "That better not be shown to everybody, Madison! Or I'll get a bunch of religious devotees who think my powers come from Satan after me!"

"It won'tbut it _does_ make a good blackmail instrument."

I ignored her and got back into bed, exhausted. _I really, really want to go home now_

The next morning, I asked Uta if there were any legends about the lake and she semi-helped.

She dusted her hands off, straightening. "Yes, there is one. It's a very old story, about a—wait, you're going to be going on the hike tomorrow. You'll hear it then."

My heart had been in my throat, but now it dropped what felt like thirty thousand feet. "Can't you tell me now?" I pleaded.

"Nope, sorry."

"Okay." I sighed, walking away. Could I afford to wait until tomorrow? Would I even live that long, with something that had enough power to sic all the water in a lake on me having decided I should be dead now? Patience was most definitely not one of my virtues—I wanted to know why this thing was after me and I wanted to know _now._

"You!" Someone walked up to me and shoved a finger in my face. "Where's my diary?"

"W-what?" I stammered, bewildered.

"I saw you coming out of my cabin with it in your hand! Where is it?"

"I don't know what you're talking about!" I protested. "I haven't left my group all day!"

"Hey, where's my necklace?" Another girl walked up. "I saw you take it!"

"What?!" I yelled, now getting scared.

"Where's my pocketknife?"

"Give me back my sketchbook!" A crowd surrounded me, every single person demanding that I return a possession of theirs. 

"I don't have your stuff!" I shouted.

"We all saw you!" 

Li pushed through and came to stand by my side, glaring fiercely at my harriers, then turned to a sixth grader. "You. What's your cabin?"

"Cougar," the surprised boy answered. 

"And yours?" he asked another one coldly.

"Bear."

"And when did your stuff disappear?"

"About five minutes ago."

"Yeah." The other boy nodded.

"So, Sakura was not only in both of your cabins at the same time, but asking Uta a question here at the craft shed?" Li asked dryly, crossing his arms. "Three places at once, huh?"

"Well, how come we all saw her?" someone else asked.

We exchanged glances. "Are you sure it was me?" I asked tentatively. "Could she just have looked like me?"

"Well, she was kinda blurry"

"Hey! Look at her eyes!" A girl pointed to my face as I blinked in surprise. "They're green!"

"Weren't that girl's eyes grayish?"

"Sorta blue, too!"

"Someone was disguising themselves as Sakura!"

"Why?"

"I don't know!"

"It's a mystery! We can solve it and we'll be famous detectives!"

I sighed as the entire mob moved away, thrilled to death. "There goes the Scooby Gang. Jeez, now I know what it was like for the people in the Salem Witch Trials."

"They shouldn't have just come after you like that," Li growled. "You'd think they'd get a little proof."

"Thanks for defending me," I said gratefully. "I was scared stiff."

"No problem. I'm getting really, really sick of that Spirit just doing this over and over. I mean honestly, why not just challenge you to a battle?"

"I don't know," I said grimly. "I think she likes toying with me. And that pisses me off."

Yukimi took us out on the new trail the next morning I'd had the same dream again, which bothered me to no end. This time, though, right before I'd woken up someone had been trying to pull the weeds off me. That hadn't kept them from smothering me to death, though.

We climbed up a long, winding path that eventually ended on a bluff. It was flat and stony, high over the lake. There was a statue at the far end, and Yukimi led us over to it. I stopped a few feet off with a choking gasp of recognition and started to back away, pale and shaking. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no" The delicate face was too familiar, the eyes too real

"Watch it!" Someone seized my wrists and yanked me forward. "Sakura, you almost walked off!"

"What?" I looked up to see Li's white face. "Li, it's her!"

"It's just a _statue,_ Sakura! The Spirit isn't going to need any more weeds if you're going to walk off a cliff and kill yourself for her!" He let go of my wrists and ran a hand through his hair. "Don't scare me like that again. I just about had a heart attack."

"You're too young for that," I sniffed. "And if you had the same dreams I've been having, by now we'd both be on our way down." I shuddered. "They aren't fun."

"Hey, everybody come in closer!" Yukimi yelled. "I'm going to tell you why we've got a statue of some lady up here." We exchanged glances, and my stomach twinged. Finally, I'd know the reason behind the attacks. "Everybody sit down, okay? Good! Now, this is a very, very, VERY old story. Long ago, there was a young Healer maiden and a sorcerer"

Everything faded into white as I was seemingly pulled down a chaotic tunnel of light and shadow, then landed lightly. Somehow, I could still hear Yukimi's voice.

"They both had lived in the forest for all of their lives, but never met until one fateful day"

I stood up and tried to lean on a tree, but passed through it.

A girl with dark hair and blue-gray eyes slipped into the clearing and then walked right through me as if I wasn't there. 

The Spirit—alive, and about sixteen.

I had gone back in time.

The Spirit-girl whirled around as a twig snapped a little ways away, and a young man who looked around eighteen stepped out from the bushes. He was dressed simply, with hazel eyes and neatly cropped brown-black hair. Seeing the girl, he jumped. "Who are you?" they both blurted out at the same time.

"Chisami," the girl replied. "Healer for the village." 

"There was a small village on the shore of the lake," Yukimi's voice continued. "Chisami lived a few miles a few miles from it in solitude, while the sorcerer's abode was far deeper in the woods."

"I'm Hane. You have magic, yes?" he asked briskly.

"Is it any of your business?" Chisami shot back just as briskly.

Hane smirked ruefully. "Whoever said Healers are always nice deserved to be kicked down several flights of stairs."

"I absolutely agree. Now if you'll excuse me—" she picked up her basket "—I have several herbs to harvest, and none of them are easy to find, so I must be going."

"They'll be in my garden," he said smugly. "I have every type of plant useful to a magician in there."

"Oh, really?" She cocked an eyebrow. "Do you have kyori? Or yellow thornroot? Lady's eyes, perhaps?"

"My gardens are weed-free," he said, offended. "Those are useless."

"The leaves of kyori, when ground into a paste and mixed with goat milk and dried nightshade, will draw the poison from a snakebite faster than any spell," she responded coolly. "The juice of a yellow thornroot stem soothes a sore throat when brewed into a tea and taken with a teaspoon of cornflower leaves. It also strengthens the heart when drank daily in doses of three spoonfuls mixed with one and a half cups of water and a pinch of dried dovetail therlon. The flower of a Lady's eyes plant is an excellent curative for a rash of any kind when dried, crumbled, and mixed with a paste of snowgrass juice and inthus root. These plants are far from useless."

"I stand corrected," Hane said with a smile.

"Chisami and Hane met often after that. At first, it was merely to exchange information the other might be able to use, but then a romance started to blossom between the two."

The two young adults vanished from the clearing, and then Hane reappeared, looking a little older. He waited behind a tree, a flower in his hand, and when Chisami came down the path he jumped out and handed it to her. She gasped, then smiled affectionately. "Silly boy."

"Of course I am." He kissed her lightly, then sobered. "Chisami, do you know what day it is?"

"Tuesday?"

"Not what I mean. I'm twenty today; I've got to go challenge her."

"No! Not yet!" Tears filled her eyes, and she clung to him. "You can't!"

"I have to, Chisami." He gently disentangled himself from her, then cupped her cheek. "She killed my entire family."

"And she'll kill you too!"

"Not if I can help it," he said softly. "I have to go now." They shared a last kiss, and then he strode away, leaving a disconsolate Chisami behind.

The scene changed as Yukimi's voice went on. "Hane was honor-bound to avenge the deaths of his family by killing their murderer, a evil sorceress; and so he had to leave Chisami to battle the witch. They fought a long, hard battle, but she eventually defeated him and held him prisoner. When he didn't return, Chisami came for him."

The surroundings melted into the bluff where I was supposed to be. Chisami stood on the end of the cliff, her hair streaming all around her. "You took him!" She screamed at a gnarled old woman, whose face was twisted into an ugly grimace of glee. "Give him back!"

The witch smirked. "Never." With a simple blast of power, she knocked Chisami off and the girl plunged to her death. I gasped and nearly retched in horror, feeling sick. Hane materialized at the sorceress's side, somehow having broken free.

"You're too late, boy," she croaked happily. "She's dead."

__

"No!" He drew a sword and killed the old woman, his eyes wild, but in her dying breath she pulled a dagger out of her kimono and plunged it into his chest. He crumpled as rain poured down on the carnage, washing the blood away. Everything turned white again and I was pulled through the tunnel again, trying not to throw up. When I blinked, I was back in my body and sitting with everyone. Yukimi was finishing the story.

"Chisami's body was never found, so the people of the village put up the statue in her memory. Even though it's been hundreds of years since it's been up, the statue hasn't aged, and some people say it's because Hane's spirit watches over her."

I wasn't listening that hard; instead, I was thinking about what I'd seen. How did it tie in with what Chisami's spirit had against me?

"What was the witch's name?" Madison queried.

"Funny you asked," Yukimi said lightly. "Her name was Sakura."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Oh, now that can't be good! What will happen to our heroes? Will they survive the Hell-bitch of ghosts? Why did they see the actual vision and no one else did? Will they make it out of camp alive? 

Good question! I'm not all that sure myself! ^_^

And, as always, Adiosity!


	8. Reconciliation

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Eight: Reconciliation

Hidely-hodely! What's up with you all? Thank you SO much for all the great reviews! ::holds up statue:: T_T They love me! They REEEEEEEEEEEEEALLY love me! Anyway, moving onwhen we left off last time, Sakura had just found out why the Spirit was after her: a witch named Sakura had taken the Spirit's man, then killed her. Now there's a girl with magic powers named Sakura at the camp, Chisami (the Spirit) assumes it's just the witch again and decides to get her guy back. Hey, it's a common mistake! For Pete's sake, the girl's been trapped in the lake for hundreds of years! Wouldn't you be just a wee bit insane by that time?

And do our story continuessorry, I know this chapter's short. If you're looking for a story I own, this isn't it. In fact, none of my stories are it. I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I paced frantically around the near-empty cabin, panicking. _Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, what am I going to DO?_

"Stop pacing." Li was seated on his bunk; we were in his cabin, the only place we could talk in private. "You're making me dizzy."

"Well, what the hell am I _supposed_ to do?" I yelled. "I've got a pissed-off ghost that thinks I've got her boyfriend after me!"

"Don't shout," he said blandly. "Someone will hear you."

"Well, let them hear me! I'm the one who's gonna be DEAD soon!"

"You aren't going to die, Sakura."

"Wanna bet?" I asked.

He ignored that. "Besides, you can't afford to die. There's a lot at stake."

__

"Gee, ya _think?"_ I asked sarcastically. "What else is there, other than MY LIFE?!"

"All the Cards will be let loose if you're gone," he said grimly. "But this time, you won't be there to catch them, so they won't have to worry about getting caught and they'll do whatever they want."

"Even better," I said hopelessly, leaning hard against the wall. " "What am I going to do? I can't kill a ghost, she's already dead!"

"I don't know," he admitted. "I really don't know."

It was all too much. "I'm gonna _DIIIIIIIIE–"_

Li clapped a hand over my mouth, cutting me off. "I meant it when I said not to shout."

"Wuh, yoo ont duh un hoos been ahacked ie uh oste," was my muffled reply.

He took his hand away. "What?"

"Well, you aren't the one being attacked by a ghost," I muttered sullenly.

"No, I just end up keeping you from killing yourself every five seconds."

"Oh, shut up," I said, throwing a pillow at him and adding, "It's not like I _try_ to die."

His reflexes must have kicked in, because a split second before the pillow hit him there was an explosion of feathers and cloth. He smacked his down-bedecked forehead. "Oh, _crap."_

I giggled at the look on his face as he picked feathers out of his hair. "That's it, I'm switching you to decaf."

"Yeah," he said ruefully. "I need it."

____

Chisami surprisingly didn't attack me that night, other than sending the same dream. The next day, I was more than hesitant to get in the lake, but Madison had made me a new swimsuit and I didn't really have a choice.

"I'm not getting in!" I protested.

"Yes–you–_are!"_ she insisted, literally dragging me down to the shore. "I made that new bathing suit and you're going to use it! I don't care if there's a psychotic ghost that wants to drown you!"

"Talk about pot calling kettle black," I muttered under my breath. "I don't know exactly who's _more_ psychotic." Her newest creation was nice enough, but I didn't want it to be my death shroud. Sadly, there was nothing on Earth that would stand between Madison and having me show off her work.

"If you die, I'll pay for the funeral," she said brightly. She wasn't joking.

"Spiffy," I sighed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I watched wryly as Madison dragged Sakura into the lake. Normally, I wouldn't have let her do that, but Madison was in one of her moods and I didn't have a death wish, so all I did was watch.

Sakura looked pretty good, at least. _Of course, she always does. But this way, if the ghost drowns her now she'll go down in style,_ I thought sarcastically. I'd have to follow her and ensure it didn't happen.

"Ogling at Sakura again, huh?" Arai asked, sneaking up behind me.

"AAH!" I jumped, then turned and glared at him. "Go away."

"I knew it," he said smugly. "God, you're _obsessed_ with her!"

"No I'm not!" I shoved him away. "I'm not the one writing her bad poetry! If anyone's obsessed, it's you!"

"Ha ha, no. My affection has drifted elsewhere." 

I caught him looking over at someone else. Seeing who exactly it was, my jaw dropped and I started laughing like crazy. "You–_and–and–"_

"Shut up!" He hissed, beet red.

"Who would've guessed?" I said evilly. "Raiu and Kumo might be interested in that particular piece of information"

"No!" He pushed me over and I fell with a splash. "Or I'll tell Sakura!"

"Tell me what?"

Arai turned around and found himself face-to-face with her. "GAAAAAAH! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Tell me what?" She asked again innocently as I got to my feet.

"Oh, just that Li–" I tackled him before he could get the rest out.

"Li what?"

"N-nothing!" I stammered, rapidly turning several various shades of red.

"Don't start that nothing' crap with me," she said dangerously. "You know what happens when I don't get the info. Now, you what?"

"Nothing!" I crossed my arms and stared innocently at the sky, knowing very well what came next. This time, I dodged when she lunged at me and splashed her instead. She gasped, then grinned and smacked it back at me. A long, messy water fight ensued; and by the time we agreed to a mutual surrender, we were both dripping and she'd forgotten how it started. _Gee, what a shame_

There was a strange tension as we waited for Chisami to show herself. Like Sakura, I'd seen the legend with my own eyes, and I was afraid for her. At sunset, we'd have two days to go–it was Thursday. Maybe we could avoid a confrontation with her, then leave the camp. And never, ever come back.

It wasn't going to work that way.

For once, sleep came easily to me that night. The last thing I saw before I fell asleep was Sakura's face, worried. _It isn't fair,_ I thought angrily as I drifted into unconsciousness. _Why does that damn ghost have to come after **her?**_

In my dream, Hane stood before me. "Li."

"Yes."

"Chisami isn't that bad," he sighed. "I took you back and showed you two what happened so you'd have that on your side. She's been trapped in that lake ever since by her own guilt and II have to stay on the bluff. She thinks that Sakura still has me."

"Can't you talk to her?"

"Not like this," he replied sadly. "If we were both in human form, yes, but not as Spirits. She's made it so that only the people she chooses can speak with her, and she doesn't know I'm still up there."

"How can I keep her from getting to Sakura?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "This really isn't a good situation."

"No, it isn't." Nadeshiko suddenly walked in. "And it just got worse. Li, wake up _now._ She's got her."

My eyes flew open and I got out of the cabin as fast as I could, heading instinctively to the beach and calling out my sword. Waterweeds were dragging a thrashing Sakura swiftly into the lake, but I hacked through them. A hole opened under my feet and I fell into darkness, landing with a painful thump. Groaning, I dragged myself into a sitting position and looked around. Nothing was in sight–except for a dim silhouette on the horizon. It got nearer; then her face came into light and I gasped. It was An Yi. 

"Li?" she asked softly. "Li, I'm so sorryI didn't mean what I saidyou forgive me, don't you, Li? She sat down beside me and wrapped her arm around mine. "We'll be together always" She pulled me down into a kiss, the thing I'd wanted from her so badly–before I came to Readington.

It felt wrong. Like I was betraying Sakura, even if she didn't know how I felt.

I pushed An Yi away. "No."

"What?"

"You can't do this. I don't forgive you. I don't love you." I got to my feet.

A cold glint came into her eyes. "You love the little witch, don't you?"

"I do," I said icily. "And she isn't a witch. You're the one who's been trying to kill her almost every night for something she didn't do, Chisami."

The darkness howled away and I was back on the beach, where waterweeds were almost completely covering a squirming figure. Then it fell limp, and I recognized the strand of ginger hair that showed through a gap in strands. It was Sakura.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I watched in horror as Li vanished into the shadows. "No! _LIIII!" _I pounded the sand, but it didn't let me in.

He was gone.

Slimy weeds lashed out at me. I turned the key into the wand, then the wand into the Sword Card, and swung it in a wide arc. Some got past the blade, and they wrapped tightly around my ankles, yanking me off my feet. Sand gritted in my teeth as the locket flared, white magic pushing the stems away. Then it flickered and died, its powers exhausted, and I was bound in the slick weeds. My skin crawled at their oily feel on my arms and legs, yet I could do nothing but watch as they wrapped around me. Soon, one plastered itself over my nose, and another over my mouth, and I couldn't breathe. My vision was blocked as another slithered around my eyes. I thrashed hopelessly, living my nightmare. If it came true, I would suffocate to death. Li was gone. I was going to die.

__

That seems to happen a lot at this camp, I thought numbly, my mind starting to go. I gave up trying to fight the weeds, because it was obvious I was going to kick the bucket sometime soon. _Oh, look, someone's pulling them off. Funny, isn't it? I'm still gonna die, I bet._ Sure enough, someone had peeled the wet leaves off my face, but I still couldn't get my lungs to expand. I tried hard, but they just wouldn't inhale. I was going to die after all. 

Another mouth went over mine, and air rushed in, forcing my lungs into action. I could breathe. It was a relief.

Then I found I could open my eyes too, and I did so, spewing terrified curses. Li's face swam into view as I sat up with difficulty, noting the absence of the weeds.

"I thought I said not to scare me like that again," he said breathlessly.

"If that's what happens every time I do, I think I'm gonna scare you more often." I turned red, realizing what I'd just said, but more problems were at hand; a demon of weeds was swiftly streaking towards us. "Fly!" I hit the card and pulled Li onto the wand behind me, then took off, dodging the whipping strands. "Hold on!"

"Fire!" Flames burned away some of the strands. He put his sword down as it occurred to me that this was the big battle. 

Chisami was done messing with me, and now I was going to die. 

Water pulled into a funnel again, roaring after us. I had to fly wildly to avoid a collision, and we ended up upside down more than once. The first time I did that, Li grabbed me by the waist in order to stay on and after that didn't let go, which I really did not mind.

Soon, I was in a position where it looked like there was no way out for us. We were blocked on one side by a wall of weeds and on the other by a wall of water, and both were heading straight at us. Then Li yelled "Up!" I yanked hard on the wand's tip and we shot into the sky, headed towards the stars. His grip on my waist tightened as we flew straight up, trying to outdistance the water and the weeds. We were going higher, and higher, and higherThe moonlight bathed everything in a slivery white glow, and it was a beautiful night. _A beautiful night to DIE_ I thought sadly. Then it hit–Chisami was only after me, truly, and if Li were with me, he'd get hurt too. I pulled the wand around and headed towards the nearest spot I could leave him on, which was coincidentally the bluff.

"What are you doing?" he shouted.

"She's only after me!" I yelled back, determined. "I won't let you get hurt."

Of course, things didn't go quite the way I'd planned; by now, I was fairly used to it.

The minute we set foot on the cliff, Li's protests halted and when I turned to look at him, I saw his eyes had taken a bewildered hazel cast. They cleared, and he said, "Go to the beach, girl." His voice had gotten deeper and unlike his own.

"What?" I realized this wasn't him, and demanded, "Who are you? What did you do with Li?"

"I'm Hane in his body," he replied tersely. "Now go! If I can talk to Chisami, you both may make it out of this alive!"

I didn't respond, worried about Li. The water struck the stone of the bluff as I wheeled the wand around and swooped down to the beach as fast as I could. The sooner Li was back to normal, the better. 

We landed lightly on the beach. I shrank the wand as he said, "Call her here. I still can't talk to her."

I gave him a glare and yelled with my mind. **_Chisami! Your boyfriend took my friend's body and he wants to talk to you, so you better get up here_ now!**

__

What?!

Hane! He's up here and he took Li's body just so he could talk to you, and wants to talk to you! This isn't a trap! I can't kill you, you're dead! And I really wish you'd leave me alone!

Shut up! I want to talk to Hane!

I noticed, I said dryly. **_Supposedly, he can't talk to you from wherever you are, okay?_**

There was no response as I sensed her moving. In a minute, she stood on the beach, but Hane was still looking around for her. "She's here, chief," I said, surly. 

"Where?" I pointed to her and he shook his head. "Can't see her. She'll have to take your body."

"And I'm supposed to be _okay_ with this?"

**__**

And she's supposed to be okay_ with this?_ Chisami and I demanded irritably at the same time. **_MenHonestly, they get worse every century._**

I know, I sighed. **_Go on, just don't do anything weird. And please stop trying to kill me, I'm not the Sakura you're thinking of. She's dead._**

What?!

He'll fill you in, I told her wearily. She nodded, and a minute later I was pushed into a corner of my mind as someone else's spirit took over.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Hane

I stand on the beach, staring at the girl in front of me. The boy whose body I'm in is pissed as hell, because he keeps thinking I might try something. He's also afraid for the girl. I assure him that no matter what, she'll be fine, and he subsides, muttering something in another language. I think I don't want to know what he's saying.

The girl's eyes turn to a surly blue-gray, and for the first time in centuries, I'm face to face with Chisami.

"Hane?" She asks tremulously, in her own voice instead of the girl's. After a minute, she scowls and says, "Where the hell have you been?"

"Up on the bluff for the past few centuries," I reply, annoyed that our big reunion is starting with an argument.

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demands.

"I couldn't talk to you."

"Why not?"

"Because I couldn't leave the bluff, that's why!" I cross my arms and glare at her.

"Well, what happened to Sakura? Has it really been six hundred years?"

"Yes, it has, and I killed her. The girl you've been trying to kill is an innocent."

"Great." She smacks her forehead. "I could have sworn she was a reincarnation or something."

"Nope. Anyway, if you let go, we can leave now. I, for on, am sick of the cliff."

"You have no idea," she responds. The weeds and water fall back into place. 

"Sure I do," I say softly. "I was up there without you for six hundred years, remember?"

Her eyes fill with tears, and we embrace. At this point, the boy's infuriated because he's got a thing for the girl whose body Chisami's borrowing. **_She isn't in command, genius,_** I say irritably. **_Same position as you, so leave me alone._**

Then I kiss Chisami for the first time in too long, and I can tell the girl is freaking inside her, too. _How ironic,_ I think to myself. _She's got a thing for the boy, too._ **_Chisami, how would you like to nudge these two along?_**

And how would we do that, dear?

We leave on the count of three.

Her eyes crinkle in amusement. **_One–two–three!_** We let go and watch, laughing, as the young couple realizes what exactly they're doing. Both turn an interesting shade of scarlet and break apart as Chisami smacks her forehead. "Young people. Honestly, they're either too sick or too shy!"

"You should talk!" Sakura scowls at us. "Hane was right–whoever said Healers were always nice deserved to be kicked down several flights of stairs!"

"But of course," I say innocently. Noticing that they're not looking at eachother, I add, "Now, may I remind you that a minute ago you were ramming your tongues down each other's throats?"

"You _made_ us!" Li yells, crimson.

"So?" I don't expect a response. "Chisami, we've got to go."

"Sorry about trying to kill you, Sakura," she says, cringing. "No hard feelings?"

"Nope," she laughs.

"Okay." We drift higher and higher, together again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

I thought I was going to die of humiliation.

Of course, that was nothing.

"See? I told you they were making out on the beach." Shinju's voice carried easily from her sitting perch on the windowsill. "You owe me ten bucks."

Madison fished a bill out of her pocket and handed it to her wryly, camcorder still pointed at us. "Dang."

"Turn it off!" I hissed. "Shut up! You're gonna wake everybody up!"

"Too late," a third-grader said impishly, leaning on her porch rail. "Don't you get cooties if you kiss?"

"I don't know," a boy said thoughtfully. "Maybe."

"Hey Madison, is it going on the final tape?"

"NO IT ISN'T,"I yelled.

"Yep! It's definitely a best' moment of Camp Nadeshiko!"

I paled. "I think I'm going to go die now," I said sadly. "Again."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LMAO! Haaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaa! Poor Li and Sakurawonder where Tori keeps the buffalo rifle? I think we're gonna find out, and soonOf course, the two aren't officially together yet. They haven't told eachother, and they don't know how the other feels, soand even better, the next chapter is a dance chapter! Of course, this isn't your average danceI mean, the chapter's called "Jack Daniels and the Dancing Queen"! ) They are so screwed

Until it's up, Adiosity!


	9. Jack Daniels and the Dancing Queen

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Nine: Jack Daniels and the Dancing Queen

::sigh:: Here you all are, trying to get Li and Sakura together, and along comes JadeWing, who's going to mess with everything and make the road to romance as chaotic as possible for them) I love what I do! Oh, new policy: I'm going to try to get at least one chapter up every week. Sadly, I won't be able to upload for a long time after this, because I'm going to be on vacation. Yes, even I take vacations. Strange, huh? Anyway, I won't be back until the 26th, but I swear if there's a way to post a chapter I'll use it. On the plus side, I'll have my laptop with me, and that means by the time I get back I'll have tons of crud to upload. Anyways, let's get the chapter started.

Nope, don't own this, the characters, the series, etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Sakura

The next day was pretty average. Because everyone was leaving the next day, we spent the morning playing a game of Capture the Flag, boys vs. girls. We won, but I didn't think it was coincidence that I was captured and Li was a jail guard.

We had the afternoon to watch TV and hang out. I spent most of it re-living the moment before Li and I had broken out of the kiss because the ghosts had left. I wished we hadn't stopped, but life wasn't fair and it certainly hadn't been then.

"Anything good on?" Shinrai asked as Madison flipped through the channels. 

"Not looking like itoh, it's that CD I want!" She paused at a commercial, then scribbled down the 1-800 number on the screen and pulled out her cell phone.

"I'll be right back," Shinju said, standing and exiting the cabin.

Madison dialed quickly, then held the phone expectantly to her ear. A minute later, a confused expression crossed her features and she muttered, _"What?"_

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know," she said slowly. "Here, see if you can understand it."

She passed it to me and I listened. "Hey, I bet I can make your day a little better," a voice cooed. "Maybe more than a_ little_"

I frowned. "I don't get it. I thought you were ordering a CD." 

Just then, Arai walked past. Figuring he might know, I leaned out the window. "Hey! Arai!"

"Yes?"

I held the phone out to him. "Madison was trying to order a CD, and we got this. What do you think it is?"

He took it. After a minute, his eyes widened and he hurriedly pressed the end' button, then started laughing like crazy. _"That_ would be a 1-900 number, Madison. You misdialed."

"Oh," she said sheepishly. "Whoops."

"Yeah, no kidding," Shinju said from the porch. "I missed something, didn't I?"

"Yep," Arai said, heading back to his own cabin. To my astonishment, I saw scarlet stain Shinju's cheeks as she watched him go.

"You–you–and–" I cracked up. "I don't know what to say! I mean, this is the guy whose face is permanently scarred from the potatoes you've_ thrown_ at him!"

"Well, at least he didn't call me weak, hopeless, and pathetic!" she said defensively. 

"And neither did he take his shirt off so it could get _ruined,_ then _carry _you through a forest," I retorted.

__

"Stop it! Stop the fighting!" Shinrai looked ready to burst into tears. "There's enough war in the world, we don't have to start! And besides, you're acting like_ guys!"_

It took us a minute to realize she was acting. "She's got a point," Madison said firmly. "Let's talk about nice things. Like what we're going to wear to the dance."

"Dance?" I asked confusedly. "What dance?"

"The one–" Shinju checked her watch "–that starts in approximately one hour and thirty minutes, at five."

"Did you forget?" Shinrai said sympathetically. "It's the end-of-camp dance."

__

"OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMIGOD! OMI–"

"Sakura, don't worry."

"But–dance–and–slow song–and–Tori–and–Li–and–and–I'M _SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWEEEEEEEDDD,"_ I wailed.

"Oh, I get it. You want a slow dance with Li and you aren't sure if he'll ask you, and how Tori'll react."

Yeah, that and the fact that IT'S A COLD DAY IN** HELL **WHEN I KNOW HOW TO DANCE!"

Shinju sighed. "Just sorta bend your knees, bounce up and down, and wave your arms. You'll be the best dancer there."

"It's easier on the floor," Shinrai said reassuringly. "You'll catch on quick."

"I–but–oy vey–I–but–dance–and–I–but–dance–oy vey–I–dance–but–" I mumbled incoherently, slouching in a helpless lump on my bed. "I'm _SCREWED."_

"No you aren't."

"I have _nothing_ to wear! I didn't bring a dress!"

"I made you one, you ninny!" Madison pulled out something in pale, delicate green. "I didn't have enough time to add any bows or ruffles, but it'll have to work."

I held it up. "Madison, it's _perfect!_" 

"I know," she said smugly. "What about you two?"

"Well, I'm _not_ wearing a dress." Shinju crossed her arms. "What about you, Shinrai?"

"I'm not going," she said lowly.

"Yes you are," her sister insisted.

"But"

"No buts."

"I'll stay with her," I offered.

"No!" Madison yelled. "You're **BOTH** GOING TO THE DANCE!"

"But I don't _want _to" I whined.

Shinrai pouted. "Me neither."

__

"Yes you do." Madison's tone left no room for argument. "It's three-thirty now. We've got an hour and a half to get you two ready, so shut up and get in your dresses."

"I HATE dances," Shinrai muttered.

I started slowly backing away, fully intending to make a break for the door and run far, far away. When Madison and Shinju's eyes were averted, I bolted for the door and got a few feet out when something big hit the middle of my back. Shinju had tackled me. I was forcibly dragged back into the cabin, despite the fact that I was clinging to the doorframe like a leech to a leg. Finally they yanked me free and I was stuffed into the dress. 

Then the real horrors began.

After putting what felt like six pounds of white foundation on my scowling face, Madison put bright red lipstick on my mouth, adorned my cheeks with twin, circular blotches of magenta blush, and brushed turquoise eye shadow over my eyelids. The result was that I looked like a cruel parody of a circus clown.

By the time she'd finished with Shinrai and I, it was 4:45. She and Shinju left to go get changed, but they said to go on ahead if they weren't back by five. As soon as they were out of sight, I ran into the bathroom and scrubbed every scrap of the crap off my face, then helped Shinrai get hers off. Deciding not to stick around for the two beauticians' and their reactions, we went early. I had tied a light green ribbon in my hair to hold it back, and the tails of the bow tickled the back of my neck as we walked to the dining halls. People often said that they had butterflies in their stomach when they were nervous; I was having hummingbirds gone postal.

I stepped into the dining hall, to find a completely different place from where I'd co-commanded the Potato War. There were streamers all over the place, paper blocking the light from the windows, silver confetti falling from the ceiling and being blown all over the place by fans, a DJ on the stage, a disco ball strung high above us, a table loaded with goodies, and a karaoke machine off to the side. I went into a sort of paralysis from the waist down two steps from the door. The hummingbirds had turned into crows.

__

"There you two are," Madison said happily behind us. I turned and gasped. Shinju was wearing a fiery red, knee-length oriental silk skirt and a simple black tank top.

"You–you aren't wearing_ shorts,"_ I said, wide-eyed and backing away. "I'm shocked. No, I'm scared." 

"I don't think you're the only one," someone said softly, their voice coming from behind me. I turned and saw Li smirking at something on the other side of the hall. "Look at Arai."

I obediently followed his gaze, then burst into giggles. Arai's eyes were literally bulging out of their sockets. "Well, looks like someone's got a crush."

"No kidding." Li vanished as suddenly as he'd come, and I drifted aimlessly towards the wall as a perky song started, unwilling to dance.

That didn't last for long. I'd been hiding in the shadows a few minutes when Madison and Shinju found me, dragged me out, and forced me to act in my opinion like a medieval dancing bear. Eventually, I got the hang of it and started enjoying myself.

Then it happened.

The thing I'd both been dreading and anticipating.

The song came into an end and I paused, my heart thumping in time to the rhythm. I waited for the next song. _Maybe they'll play something by Puffy Amiyumi,_ I thought excitedly, expecting the fast beat of the next one to start. Then a piano intro started–the song was Drops of Jupiter' by Train.

It was a nice song.

It was a sweet song.

But it was a slow song.

My frantic heartbeat rang in my ears, the crows in my stomach ballooning into chickens. _This can't be happening_ I backed slowly away, pale and shaking. _Omigod, omigod, omigod, omigod, **omigod**_ I fortunately wasn't alone–there were other girls who were backing up, Shinju included. I chatted nervously with her for a moment, but an approaching figure made us look up. It was Arai.

"UhShinju, II mean, do youwell, um, uh" he stammered, alternately white and red.

I giggled helplessly as she blushed a bright scarlet and said, "S-s-sure."

"Sakura?" a voice asked, unsure.

My laughter died. Trembling, I turned and faced its originator–Li. "Y-y-y-y-yes?" I asked just as unsteadily, sounding like Porky Pig. The chickens in my stomach inflated into turkey vultures.

"D-do you"

I felt like I was floating. "I-I do."

**__**

Tell me, did you sail across the sun

Did you make it to Milky Way to see the lights all faded

And that heaven is overrated

Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star

One without a permanent scar

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

There was a rightness to it; being held so close by him. My heart was beating faster than ever, but I ignored it, resting my head on his shoulder as warmth surrounded me.

__

"You must tell him by the end of the week, Sakura, or you'll lose him forever." [AN: Does Sandlot' kid impression "FOREVER. FOORRRRREVVVVUHR."]

I swallowed. It was now or never. [AN: ::does O-Town impression:: It's ::whine::now or nevvvvveeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr.IIIIIIIIIIIIIS IT AAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLL, OR NUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHTHIIIIIIIIIIING AT ALLLLLLLLLL? THERE'S NOWHERE LEFT TO FAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL::gets booed off stage:: Anyway, back to the story] "Li, I–I" I stumbled over the words, unable to continue.

"You what?" he murmured softly into my ear.

Shivers ran up my back and I trembled violently. This was so hardSomething inside told me that no matter what, he wouldn't intentionally hurt me, but what if he didn't feel the same? Even worse, what if he did? I had to know. I had to say it. 

****

Now that she's back in the atmosphere

I'm afraid that she might think of me as plain ol' Jane

Told a story 'bout a man who was too afraid to fly so he never did land

Taking a deep breath, I said slowly, "II love you." 

**__**

Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet

Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day

And head back to the Milky Way

And tell me, did Venus blow your mind

Was it everything you wanted to find

And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there

Something that had crouched on my shoulders seemed to launch itself into the sky. The words were out and I couldn't take them back. I'd done it.

There was silence above me, and a new weight came down heavy on my back. He didn't feel the same way, and now I'd ruined everything because we couldn't really be friends. Tears welled up in my eyes.

Gentle fingers slipped under my chin and tilted my face up. "Don't cry, Sakura," he said softly, his eyes full of emotion. "Please don't cry."

We froze like that, heat rushing through my body. I was afraid to move, to change the way we were now, because then he might not be touching my face like he was now and that was the last thing I wanted. 

**__**

Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken [AN: DUDE! DEEP-FRIED CHICKEN!]

**__**

Your best friend always sticking up for you

Even when I know you're wrong

Then something bumped into me, sending me the few inches forward that closed the distance between us. Our lips met, and for once it wasn't because I was in mortal peril.

The turkey vultures in my stomach flopped over and died.

**__**

Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance, five hour phone conversation

The best soy latte that you ever hadand me

When we broke apart I rested my forehead on his chest, dazed but deliriously happy nonetheless. "I love you," he whispered, squeezing me tight.

"Really?" I looked up at him.

His eyes showed more emotions than I thought were humanly possible–but they were still amazingly warm. "Really."

I pulled him into another kiss. It was almost nicer than the first, but that was a tough call. The song ended, but we went on, standing in the middle of the dance floor and–as Shinju had said mockingly so often–making out. 

Of course, that didn't last for long.

"HEY!" Tori ran over, looking almost rabid, but Madison and Shinrai each seized an elbow and restrained him with difficulty as we pulled apart, startled. That didn't keep him from yelling, though. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE _DOING?!"_

I glared at him. "Tori, go away!"

"Go away nothing! Why were you playing tonsil hockey with HIM?!"

"Why do you _think?"_ I asked astringently.

"I don't know! Maybe he drugged you or–"

This time, it was Li who held me back. "Sakura, I don't care what he says."

"Well,_ I _do!" I growled. 

"Jeez, you can't even leave a pair of fourteen-year-olds alone anymore!" Tori said angrily.

"TORI, SHUT _UP!_ I don't care what you say about me, but _one_ more word about Li and I'll kick your _fat_ ass all over this camp!"

"Go Sakura!" Shinju applauded. "Now you're getting it."

"Sakura, I'll, um, _explain_ things to him, okay?" Madison hauled Tori away as he still stared at me, dumbfounded. We watched silently as she pushed him into a chair and started talking at him. He didn't really seem to be listening until I saw her say "mouth-to-mouth resuscitation." 

"WHAT?!"

The yell echoed through the hall, followed by "WHERE'S MY GUN?"

"You don't have a gun, Tori!" I yelled. He turned and glared balefully at me, then spotted Li again and turned a unique purplish color, seemingly unable to speak. Madison shoved a glass of amber liquid in his hand and said something, and after a moment he drank it. She came over and asked, "Tori's over 21, right?"

"No, why?"

"Well" she laughed nervously. "That isn't exactly apple juice"

"Where'd you get alcohol?" I demanded, torn between anger and laughter. 

"Someone over there," she said, gesturing vaguely toward the left side of the hall. Tori sat back down in the chair, and a moment later he was snoring. "I guess he doesn't have much of a tolerance for liquor," she added lightly.

I shook my head. "Whatever. I'll be right back, I'm thirsty."

"Okay. They've got punch on the table." She pointed to the giant bowl.

I nodded, then walked over. Ladling myself a glass, I downed it swiftly. It had a funny aftertaste, but I figured it was because of the brand. It didn't really help my thirst–instead, it almost made me thirstier–so I drank another glassand anotherand another

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

****

Li

I waited for Sakura to come back as the DJ announced the karaoke machine was up and anyone who wanted to try it out could. When she didn't return after a few minutes, I started to get worried and went over to the punch. I was somewhat thirsty also, so I picked up a cup and took a sip. There was a funny taste behind the typical sugar-water flavorfrowning, I took another sip and choked, then threw the cup away and looked frantically around for Sakura. She was nowhere in sight.

__

"Li!"

I turned and saw Madison running towards me. "Madison, somebody spiked the punch!"

"I know, someone just told me!" Familiar, old music started coming from the karaoke stand as she added, "And Sakura's never had alcohol before, so she doesn't know what it tastes like!"

I swore. "Where could she be?"

__

"You can dance, you can jive, having the time of your life!" A voice came on over the speakers, slurring slightly. _"See that girl, watch that scene, dig in the Dancing Queen!"_

We stared at eachother, horrified.

__

"Friday night and the lights are low

Looking for the place to go

Where they plaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay the right music, getting in the swing

You come in to look for a king

Anybody could be that guy

Night is young and the music's high

With a bit of rock music, everything is fine

You're in the mood for a dance

And when you get the chance"

We took off for the stage as Sakura's voice brokenly blared over the speakers.

__

"YOU ARE THE DANCING QUEEN, YOUNG AND SWEET, ONLY SEVENTEEN!

DANCING QUEEN, FEEL THE BEAT FROM THE TAMBOURINE!"

When she saw us coming, she giggled, then ran off the stage, the cordless mike still in her hand and her cheeks flushed. _"YOU CAN DANCE, YOU CAN JIVE, HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIFE!"_ She jumped on a table, one hand raised triumphantly in the air and the other clutching the microphone. _"SEE THAT GIRL, WATCH THAT SCENE, DIG IN THE DANCING QUEEN!"_

"Sakura, come down from there," I said firmly. She let out a high-pitched, strangled laugh, and continued singing.

__

"You're a teaser, you turn 'em on

Leave them burning and then you're gone!"

Sakura dropped to her knees, her voice breaking on the high notes. _"Looking out for another, anyone will do, you're in the mood for a dance, and when you get the chaaaaaaaaaaanccccccccce."_

"Here she goes," Madison muttered.

__

"YOU ARE THE DANCING QUEEN!" She dropped the mike, then jumped off the table and grabbed onto a lamp, swinging high above us. _"YOUNG AND SWEEEET, OOOOOOONNNNLYYYY SEVENTEEEEEEEEEEN! DANCING QUEEEEEEEEN, FEEEEEEEEEL THE BEAT FROM THE TAMBOURIIIIIIIIIIIINE! YOU CAN DANCE, YOU CAN JIVE, HAVING THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE, SEE THAT GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRLLLL, WATCH THAT SCEEEEEEEEEEEENE, DIG IN THE DAAAAAAAAANCCCCINNNNNNNNG QUEEEEEEEEEEN!"_ She jumped back onto the table, holding the last note, then swayed and fell back into my arms. There was stunned silence in the hall; then everyone burst into applause and cheers.   
"Yeah!"

"Go, Dancing Queen!"

I picked her up and carried her outside, followed by a concerned Shinrai, a hysterical Madison, a smirking Arai, and a cracking up Shinju. At this point, Sakura was drifting between consciousness and unconsciousness. "Now what?" I asked as the door slammed behind us.

"I don't know," Shinju said between laughs. "Who spiked the punch?"

"Nobody piked the spunch," Sakura slurred, half-awake. "Hey, I like that word. Spunch. Spunch. _Spuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnncccccccchhhhhhhhh."_

"Oh boy," Shinrai sighed. "Don't look at me, I've never had to deal with a underage drinker before."

"Me neither." Madison looked around nervously. "What would the counselors say?"

"Whoever spiked it would get in a crapload of trouble, that's for sure." Arai looked almost crestfallen. "I hope they do. I thought only I was that ingenious."

"Not even close." Shinju smacked him upside the head. "Besides, we've got bigger issues than your ego."

"Nothing's bigger than his ego," I said dryly. "Now what are we going to do with her?"

__

"Yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh, what _arrrrrrrrrrrrrrre _we going to dooooooooooooooo with meeeeeeeeeee? HahaI said doodoo doo" 

"Umm," Madison said, ignoring her friend, "We could take her back to the cabinbut how can we make sure she doesn't wake up?"

"She should pass out soon," Shinju said helpfully. "And then she shouldn't wake up until really late tomorrow morning, and she'll have one hell of a hangover."

"Great, she'll love that." As the words came out of my mouth, Sakura's head thudded onto my shoulder. She was out cold. I shifted her in my arms, then added, "You guys can go back inside. I'll take her back."

Shinju grinned. "After that little scene with Tori, I'm not sure if we can leave you two alone."

I glared at her, face burning. "What kind of pervert do you think I _am?!_ I wouldn't do that to her!"

"She knows," Shinrai said, elbowing her sister hard. "_Don't _you, Shinju?"

"Oh, sure," she said evilly. "Just don't break the bed."

If I hadn't been holding Sakura, I would have strangled her on the spot, relative or not. As it was, I nearly killed her. "And–and you're saying _I'm_ the sick one?" I asked in a strangled voice. "Wait, don't answer that." I turned on my heel and strode off.

Sakura was almost alarmingly limp as I carried her back, but I wasn't too worried. After all the alcohol I suspected that she'd had, it was no surprise she was drunk. Like Shinju said, in the morning she'd have one hell of a hangover.

My feet thumped up the steps to her cabin, and the door hinges creaked as I pushed it open, then walked in and gently set her down on her bunk. A few stray strands of hair dusted the tip of her nose, and I brushed them away. She may have been dead drunk, but she was still beautiful. Leaning down, I gently kissed her, then got up and walked away, heading back to my cabin. I wasn't going back to the dance–there'd been enough excitement for me today.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yeah! Score for the Dancing Queen! ::smirks:: So, who's ready for the last chapter? Okay, I know, they've been hooked up, they danced, they kissed, they schmoozed, and everybody went home happy in the words of Hades in Disney's messed up version of Hercules. So what could go wrong?

Like I said in Shin no Chikara: Plenty!

After all, we've got the tape to see, don't we? What if someone got their hands on it, and edited some scenes to make it look like something it's not? Like that makeout scenecomputer technology works wonders, you know. So until then, Adiosity!


	10. The Best and Worst of Camp Nadeshiko

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

A Camp Adventure Gone Wrong

Chapter Ten: The Best and Worst of Camp Nadeshiko

Alright everybody! This is the LAST CHAPTER ::dramatic music:: DUM DUM DUM! Of course, it isn't going to be all that serious–or that long, I think, for that matter. Anyways, I'd like to thank EVERYBODY for all your great reviews! @_@ Everybody loves me! I'm scared! WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME? I'M BECOMING FAMOUS! Okay, maybe not really, but I still LOVE all the reviews you guys sent me. Picture this: It's 9:13 and I've just got back from driving from Los Angeles to Portland in two days with a laptop that works for an hour only as my only entertainment. And then I start up my comp and get online and go to check my mail and see 'You have **26** New Messages.' I think I'd describe my reaction as "HOLY $HIT!" And only five weren't reviews, I think@_@ Then I went to my account to check my reviews again and I saw a crapload of more reviews I hadn't gotten review alerts for. Oy vey

BTW, my friend wants me to do a sequel. Of course, the obvious couple is already hooked up, and so are Arai and Shinju, so that leavesan E+T fic! It'll still be told by Sakura and Syaoran (yes, in that story [IF it's written!] I'll use the Japanese names), but it'll most likely be about how Sakura reverses roles with Tomoyo and ends up playing cupid. And there just might be a reappearance from our two favorite ghosts, just to cough nudge them along so, who's ready for the LAST CHAPTER?

Don't own this, or the series, or the characters. Never have. Don't now. Never will.

Unless I join CLAMP someday like I want to!

-_-; Moving on

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Sakura

It was a beautiful morning when I woke up. The birds were singing, the sky was blue, and what I noticed in particular was that the sun was shining directly into my face.

"OWWWWWW!" I rolled over hurriedly and moaned, "Somebody turn the sun off, pleaseI can't see"

Then I realized I had one of the worst headaches ever. And I knew there was no way in hell that I was going to get out of bed that morning.

Of course, there was no way in hell. Here on earth, it was a different story.

"Yep," Shinju said wryly. "You've got a hangover."

"A _what?!" _I asked dazedly, my head buried in the pillow and fully intending to stay there for a long, long time. "Don't talk so loud," I added pleadingly. "It hurts."

She dropped her voice to a whisper. "A hangover. It's what you get the morning after you've been drunk."

That woke me up all too well.

"DRUNK?!" I spluttered. "I've never been drunk in my life!"

"I believe I beg to differ," she said wickedly. "Do the words Dancing Queen' mean anything to you?"

My eyes widened in horror. "I thought that part was a dream!" It was true; after I'd started drinking the punch, everything had gone hazy and weird realization sunk in. "Somebody spiked the punch, didn't they?"

Shinju nodded sadly. "Such a shame"

"What, that I got drunk?" She shook her head. "That I missed the rest of the dance?" 

She shook her head again. "That I didn't think of it first."

I groaned. With the kind of headache that I had, this was too much to think about. "I want a shower"

"Good. Somebody give her some Tylenol." Shinrai said, handing me a pair of sunglasses. "You'll look like Morpheus."

"Who?"

"Greek god of dreams, and also a character in The Matrix."

"Never seen it," I said dully, slowly getting out from between the sheets.

"Oh. It's good."

"Okay." I picked up a fresh camp uniform and went outside, squinting at the sunlight and slowly walking down the trail. Soon, I passed the place where I'd cut my leg and Li had had to carry me. That had been a nice nightI almost wished I could get hurt again, so he'd carry me back again too.

With a sigh, I slipped into the showers.

After a nice, long rinse, I was feeling somewhat better. It was a comfort, knowing that nothing was out to kill me–for the moment; there were still cards to catch–and that Li actually cared for me too. That made me happiest of all.

I still had the biggest headache of my life as I went outside. The sunlight didn't help matters that much, and neither did the fact that every single noise grated on my ears like an elephant's trumpeting.

I sullenly walked back to the cabin, the shrill bird songs about to send me over the edge. Every clunk as I went up the steps was like a roll of thunder to me. I crossly flopped down on my bed, then realized we had half an hour until breakfast.

Where it'd be like sitting in the middle of a battlefield.

I sighed, resigned. *These are the consequences of being a MIP, I guess, even if it wasn't intentional* Determined to get used to the extra light sensitivity I had, I folded my arms on the windowsill and rested my chin on them, eyes squeezed shut against the sun and its glare from the reflected water.

"Hey." A warm voice came from directly in front of me. I managed to pry my eyes open and saw it was Li, holding a mug of something. "Drink this. It'll make you feel better."

Surprised and blushing slightly, I took the cup and obediently drained the sweet tea. "What _is _that?" I asked, my headache gone in an instant. 

He shrugged. "Clan herbs and stuff. Nothing big."

"Well, thanks." I smiled. "I thought I was going to go crazy."

"You're always crazy," he teased. 

I raised an eyebrow. "And this is coming from the person who actually carried me through a forest in the middle of the night with his shirt off?"

"Yep. And you know what?" He asked softly, leaning closer.

"What?" I thought my heart was going to throw itself out of my chest, the way it was pounding.

"I'd do it again." He kissed me, then drew back and said, "See you at breakfast."

"Right" I said dazedly as he walked away.

"Well, now that was very cute," Madison said with satisfaction. "And it was on tape, too."

That snapped me out of my dreamy state. "HAVE YOU NO DECENCY, WOMAN?!" I yelled, outraged. "I mean, all I ask for are a few, unrecorded moments of privacy, and instead I get someone who's made a life study of Big Brother!"

"Hey, it isn't her fault," Shinrai said defensively. "You don't get mad at a dog for getting rabies, do you? It's just a disease. Madison's is her obsession with video taping."

"Speaking of which," Shinju said thoughtfully, "Do you know what today is?"

"The last day of camp," I answered confusedly, then blanched. "Oh, no."

"Yep," she said grimly. "It's time. They show it at breakfast, every year."

"I think I'm going to throw up," I said wretchedly. "Madison, how much did you put on there?"

"Of what, all the stuff between you and Li?" I nodded. "Well, there's the mouth-to-mouth, the first part of the time in the Potato War–you know, when you tackled him...for his sake I cut off the part where he faints cuz you're on top of him" I blushed crazily as she continued, "And then there's the time on the beach, when you were wrestling or whatever, and then the time you were making out on the beach again–"

"But that was the ghosts!" I squeaked.

"–and then the dance. Oh yeah, and the time he was carrying you to the nurse's office."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah, we got that on tape." Shinju grinned. "Just don't ask how."

"I don't think I will," I said wearily. "My god, Tori's gonna kill me"

"Actually, no, he isn't," Madison said smugly. "See, remember the apple juice' I gave him?"

"What about it?"

"It was brandy," she replied. "Strong brandy. He's going to have a worse hangover than you, and he won't be waking up for a while. In fact, not pastoh, say, noon."

"That's a relief" I said slowly. "Butstill, I meandoes everybody have to see this?" I moaned. 

"It wouldn't be the Best and Worst of Camp Nadeshiko without romance," she said happily. "So stop worrying. It's not that big of a deal."

"What's the worst?" Shinrai inquired. 

"Wellum, when Hoshi sprained her ankle is one," she replied. "And when Sakura fell off the dock. Of course, it's on a best-worse basis."

"What's that mean?"

"It means that it gives a worst moment of camp, then a best, then a worst, then a best again." Shinju leaned out the window. "Like Sakura falls in the lake is the worst, and then the best to match it is Li giving her mouth-to-mouth."

"Oh."

I buried my face in my hands. "Don't mind me, I think I'm going to go die of shame now."

"Oh, quit whining, you sissy," she reproached. "It won't be that bad."  
"You aren't going to be the one on the screen," I retorted. 

"Well, actually" Madison began.

"Well actually what?" she demanded suspiciously.

"Well, Li and Sakura weren't the only couple I mean, it gets monotonous after a while."

"And?" Shinju growled, her face pale.

"Andthere's some, uh, footage of, uh, you two."

"When?"

"The usual." She shrugged. "At the dance, on the beach last night"

"THE BEACH?!"

"The _beach?" _I echoed incredulously. "Boy, I sure missed a lot last night, didn't I?"

"Yep. She and Arai were making out."

"AND IT'S ON THE TAPE?" She shrieked, alternately white and red-faced.

"Uh huh."

"Now you know how I feel," I said smugly.

"But–but–everybody–and–oh, _shit._" Her shoulders slumped downward as she sat down hard. "I'm screwed."

"Quit whining, you sissy," I taunted, mimicking her. "It won't be that bad."

"Shut up." She scowled. "_You _don't have a rep to keep up. I do."

"You'll live." Shinrai stood up. "Come on, you guys. It's time. And I'm hungry."

Shinju and I dragged our feet, going as slowly as possible. It felt to me as though I was going to my own execution. 

We were walking along the lake side when something happened that made me believe that there was, indeed, a God.

It was the perfect spot for it to happen. The water was pretty deep there, the small bank we were walking along about fifteen feet above the surface. And then it happened.

I could have sworn there was no root there before then. It wasn't until later that I found out there wasn't. But nevertheless, Madison tripped, and the tape–the evil, black little tape–flew out of her hands.

__

Splash!

It was gone.

Into the lake.

Never to return.

We would have felt bad for her, but she had a backup tape.

And as we followed Madison back to the cabin, a flash of misty color caught my eye. I turned and saw a grinning Chisami, waving at me. I laughed, surprised, and grinned back, mouthing, Thanks!'

"I think I'm going to be sick," I croaked, staring at the screen, red with humiliation and feeling nauseated.

I wasn't the only one. That tape had been tampered with. And badly. 

Shinju looked at the image on the screen, appalled. "What kind of disgusting freaks did this?"

Someone had taken the various footages and made it look like I didn't even want to think about what it looked like. It just involved Li, Shinju, Arai, and I, and it was really, really wrong. Twisted and wrong.

Like an X-rated episode of 'Blind Date.' 

Or Beavis and Butthead. Only worse.

And I was ready to crawl into the ground and die. Along with the rest of us.

There was, however, a solution. And it came from an unexpected source.

"I just thought I'd tell you," Arai said casually, "that there aren't three descendants of Clow Reed here. There's six." He grimaced at the screen. "I wouldn't mind if you used the Erase Card to cover this little incident, you know."

Shinju was the first to recover from her shock. "I'll save the lecture on why we don't hold back valuable information like that for later," she said dryly. "But that _is_ a good idea."

"Yeah." I stood up. "I'll be right back."

And that was how that was handled. Of course, it took more time for me to actually be able to look Li in the eye again--and to find and strangle Raiu and Kumo. It wasn't that hard to figure out they'd done it. After all, the loudest hoots of laughter in the hall had been theirs, and they were looking unreasonably proud. It turned out that they were also descendants of Clow Reed, and their magics made it impossible for their memories to be erased. But they didn't keep Arai and Shinju from pounding them into the ground. 

Then the question arose of why they hadn't told us of their lineage in the first place.

Arai shrugged casually, when asked. "Just cuz."

"So what powers do you have?" I asked lowly.

"Oh, nothing much," he said carelessly. "A little levitation, some elemental here and there. Nothing like yours."

"I've got some foresight," Kumo added.

"And I've got Animation magic," Raiu boasted.

"Oh." I shook my head wonderingly. "How weird"

"No kidding." Madison stared at the table thoughtfully, then sat upright and smiled, her face lighting up like a light bulb. "And next year I can record it all! And maybe I can put it on a DVD!"

__

Thwack!

That was the noise heard as the rest of us smacked our foreheads.

"What?" She asked innocently. "Was it something I said?"

"No," I sighed. "Not at all, Madison. Not at all."

~ One year later ~

"Come on, Li!" I dragged him down the trail, a bag slung over my shoulder. "I want to see your cabin!" It had been a long year, but yet all the cards were caught and turned into Sakura Cards, all the battles fought, all the reincarnation and magic matters settled. For once, there was no chaos.

Despite the unusual occurrences of last year, we'd come back again. After all, it was like an anniversary trip or something. And how could we not come back to the place where we'd fallen in love?

"Hey you guys!" Shinju waved. "Have you seen Arai anywhere?"

"No, but we're in the same cabin again this year," Li replied. "At least, I think we are."

"We're on our way there," I added. "Do you want to come with us? And we're in the same cabin again, too."

"Sure, why not?" She shrugged and fell in place. "So what have you guys been doing all year? How did you manage to survive without me?"

"Well" We exchanged glances. "It's been an interesting year, that's for sure. I'm the Card Mistress now."

"Really? Congratulations, then!"

"It's no big deal," I said casually. "What have you been up to?"

"Not much." We walked into the Wolf Cabin, where Li had been assigned again. It took a few seconds for my eyes to adjust to the dimness inside. 

And then I found out that we weren't alone.

"Eriol?!"

"Hello," he said cordially. "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Li growled back.

I sighed. It was going to be a long, long two weeks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So that's it! Finite! Done! No more! Thank you, come again! If you're wondering why I used Eriol instead of Eli, even though I used the American names, it's cuz IT'L BE A COLD DAY IN HELL WHEN I CALL HIM ELI. Not that I've got anything against that name; it's just that it isn't right for him. AnywaysWhat did you think? And should I write a sequel? Hmmm? Let me know, or it might never happenand gimme some time, or it won't come out good. This took a long time to write. A long, long time. A long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long, long–you get the point. So give me a month or two, okay? Anyway, let me know if you want one too.

And until the next epic drama comes out, Adiosity! 


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